The Greatest Songs of 2011

You can watch the music videos to and listen to all these songs in a neat video playlist at the link below:

FUN YOUTUBE PLAYLIST

Atmosphere - "Just For Show"

Atmosphere's new one was a stinker for the most part, but this track still goes hard and shows that Slug still has what it takes as an MC. Ant needs to step it up on the beats for the majority of the album, but this rich, driving Mexican inspired beat is what really ties the song together, recalling classic hip-hop beats like Timbaland's beat for Jay-Z's "Hola Hovito." This is the one song on the album that brings all the best elements of Atmosphere together to show they can still do what they do with the best of them. If only they tried this hard consistently, although the irony is that this song almost feels tossed off and maybe that's the key. They keep it simple and run with a nice idea that makes for an amazing head-bobbing beat.

Corinne Bailey Rae - "Low Red Moon"

I've long been a fan of the work of Corinne Bailey Rae and every song she chose to cover on her latest release, The Love EP, is a great interpretation of a classic song, especially her version of Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover." The reason I chose "Low Red Moon" is for this list though is that it's the song that is the furthest out of Bailey Rae's comfort zone. "Low Red Moon" is a song originally recorded by semi-obscure alt rock/dream pop band Belly. Bailey Rae's version is mostly faithful to the original, but her vocals are beautiful as always and I remain impressed that she could pull something like this off so well.

Bjork - "Hollow"

I probably could have chosen any song off the new Bjork album Biophilia for this list as the album is consistently impressive and features some of Bjork's more enticing instrumentals in recent years. The reason I choose "Hollow" however is for the emotion it evokes. It's sparse as ever in its instrumentation, but something about it is downright creepy. It begins sort of meandering and ponderous, as though Bjork has entered a dark forest and knows not where she is. It has a sort of mystical quality, as we journey forward. But slowly the lights begin to dim and the pixie dust and Snow White anf the Seven Dwarves quality of the early part of the song is replaced by a descending bass and an electronic beat. The situation grows dire. For the last minute or so of the song, horror movie key stabs become frantic and overtake the beat while Bjork's voice becomes more urgent. Then it ends. It leaves us on a cliffhanger, wondering what the hell happened to Bjork. It's this cinematic quality that makes this song an album highlight and also makes the album so damn enjoyable. I hear Bjork creating a world, something few people know how to do in music these days.

The Black Keys - "Lonely Boy"

This one is just balls to the wall rocking. I'm not gonna get in depth here for the simple reason that there's nothing to get in depth about. If you understand what makes classic rock songs so enjoyable, you'll love this one. It has sparse lyrics centered around a hook that is ultimately meaningless but catchy and oh so much fun to sing along to. "I've got a love that keeps me waiting, I'm a lonely boy." That simple line holds the whole thing together. Good luck getting this one out of your head for a good long while. As far as I'm concerned, we're in good shape as long as songs like this are being created and hitting the charts. It's just intellectual enough in its instrumentation to skirt any accusations of being a total classic rock rip-off (for that, see Jet), while remaining just dumb and rocking enough for everyone to just get down to it. In the absence of the White Stripes making radio hits, these guys are our next best hope for pure rock. So get the fuck up and dance already!

Bon Iver - "Beth/Rest"

This song has been garnering major comparisons to guys like Bruce Hornsby. You know, it has that total 80's sound, with the cheesy piano and inspirational vocals, not to mention the sax. I'm not going to argue with the comparisons, because they're completely valid, but hell, why not? The 80's are back and I couldn't be happier. I grew up on the 80's and getting to hear adult contemporary that's actually cool is fine by me. So I celebrate this song, while admitting how ridiculous and cheesy it is. That's what makes it good after all. There's nothing wrong with ridiculous and cheesy if you do it with a knowing smirk on your face and I'm pretty sure Bon Iver has one.

City and Colour - "Sorrowing Man"

Much of City and Colour's work is dark, sad, and tortured, focusing specifically on tales of lost love and failed lives told in Dallas Green's rich, smooth singing voice. What sets a song like "Sorrowing Man" apart is the instrumentation. Rather than being a simple acoustic affair like usual with City and Colour, he steps it up by producing a pained classic blues track, with an echoing electric guitar and a crying organ to accompany his soaring and perfectly hurt voice. It may be somewhat slick and calculated, a by the book reading of this type of music, but that's why it works so well. Nobody follows this formula quite so precisely and accurate anymore. Green here latches onto some sounds few exploit in their favor anymore, at least since the 70's, and it gives it a nice throwback feel.


Cymbals Eat Guitars - "Plainclothes"

This was one of my favorite songs by this group when I first heard them do it on WOXY (RIP) in 2009. It's been two whole years since then, but the song has finally seen an official release. Frankly, I like the live version much better. Something about the production on Lenses Alien drains this song of its liveliness. But regardless, since it's seen an official release, it's going on the list. Lenses Alien as a whole was a let-down but this older track still holds up, production qualms aside. It's all about catch and release with this one. It hooks you, it builds up, it breaks down, it plods along, slowly coming back, then it explodes, then it slows it down again, then it brings it all back. That build-up, that contrast, it takes you for a ride and never lets you go completely until the song is over. It's brilliant and shows why this is still, lackluster album aside, one of my favorite bands in the current indie rock landscape.

The Decemberists - "Down By the Water"

Ok, we all know why I like this one so much and I'll get it out of the way right now. I am a massive R.E.M. devotee. I was crushed when they called it quits this year. And so, of course, this song hooked me instantly with Peter Buck's jangly guitar that reminded us all of "The One I Love" so much. It basically is an update on "The One I Love" with a heavier Americana influence, but that's alright. Like I said when I reviewed this album early this year, I feel like it explores an overlooked part of R.E.M.'s history while progressing the Decemberists forward as well. It's that untold story that happened between Automatic for the People, perhaps the culmination of R.E.M.'s pop and americana phase, and their return to rock on Monster. It bridges the gap between those two sounds, even as it is performed by a successor band who are highly influenced by the original. More than any other Decemberists release, The King is Dead pays tribute to one of their greatest influences, while still doing something unexplored and uncharted. That's why this one resonated with me so much, aside from the obvious.

Dream Theater - "On the Backs of Angels"

I hate Dream Theater. Well, that's not true, I hate what they've become. They were so good on their breakthrough album Images and Words before they became crushed and suffocated under the weight of their own admittedly amazing technical proficiency. Not that I want to sit here and argue that being a virtuoso is a bad thing, but at times their music has seemed technical for the sake of being technical. Not to mention the softening of singer James LaBrie's voice even as the music has become heavier (and blander). But the departure of longtime drummer Mike Portnoy, who was also a central songwriter, gave me some renewed hope for the band. Anyone whose heard him playing with Avenged Sevenfold or his dreadful new band Adrenaline Mob knows that Portnoy has a serious and bizarre interest in mediocre radio rock and metal. So I hoped Dream Theater would be purged of that when he left the band. Thankfully, it has. Unfortunately, they still can't write a fucking song to save their collective lives. Their new album, A Dramatic Turn of Events, is a piece of shit. There's a few songs that might be alright, if LaBrie could sing with any balls anymore, but he lost that to illness in the 90's and it's never coming back. The one song where it actually works out for them though is the first track and the single, "On the Backs of Angels." It's a copy of their Images and Words style, perhaps consciously, but that's alright too. All I've ever wanted from Dream Theater was for them to scale back some and get back to what made them good on that album. For a brief shining moment, they do that. They lose it immediately afterward, but I have to give them some serious props for producing their best song in over a decade. It's an admirable step forward (or back, depending on how you look at it) at the very least. So I will give them credit where credit is due. They deserve to make this list on the basis of this one song. If only the whole album was this good. Also this sparse. The best part of this song is that it actually has room to breathe for once. They need to learn to harness that. But still, criticism aside, good on them for producing one of the better songs I've heard this year. Beware though, they're always going to be masters of cheese. If you're scared of cheesy prog, stay away.

Emmure - "Last Words to Rose"

Emmure has always teetered on being a serious force to be reckoned with in the world of metal, a bunch of whiny pussies, and a comical Limp Bizkit tribute band. It's hard to tell which they want to be on their first three albums. But on Speaker of the Dead, they seem to have made a choice. They're not fucking around anymore. On their second album, The Respect Issue, they had a song called "Tales from the Burg" where frontman Frankie Palmeri screamed the pained words "I'm not over it, I'm never over it" immediately contradicting his previous statement in the same song that he was "so over it, so fucking over it." Well, despite his claim that he would never be over "it," he seems to finally be over "it" for Speaker of the Dead, which is the first album where we can say without a doubt that the band is dead serious about what they're doing. There's still a few exaggerated hard ass moments, recalling their third album Felony, but for the most part Speaker of the Dead is just heavy, crushing metal with few traces of irony or Palmeri's usual whininess and heartbreak. But the album's most intense and emotional moment comes with this track, "Last Words to Rose." It's emotional without being whiny, something of a rarity in Emmure's catalogue, and it shows them coming into their own as musicians. It's the album's high point, recalling intellectual metalcore bands such as Misery Signals and the Devin Townsend Project. It's still crushing and pounding metal, but it features more atmospheric guitar leads that show a maturity and depth that Emmure has never had before. It's the sound of a band finding their definite strengths and combining them all into one track. Emmure has always been entertaining and enjoyable, but now they're no longer ironic or embarrassing. They're just a good band and this one proves it.

The Flaming Lips and Lightning Bolt - "I'm Working at NASA on Acid"

Leave it to the Flaming Lips and Lightning Bolt to produce a song together that sounds nothing like either of them. "I'm Working at NASA on Acid" does sound a lot like what its title makes you think it would sound like though. It sounds like an acid trip in space, opening up with the sounds of astronauts speaking to mission control, followed by a dark acoustic guitar strum and psychedelic vocals, layered over each other multiple times and echoing out through the eery atmosphere created by the backing keyboards. Suddenly the whole thing billows out around the three minute mark and becomes something else entirely: a spastic psych rock jam far more in the vein of what the Flaming Lips and Lightning Bolt should sound like together. Then we return to the original theme three minutes later at the sound of an acid-washed synthesizer committing suicide. In its entirety, it's an eight minute track that drags you through the ringer. But for some reason, as unappealing as all this should be, it's strangely enticing. Like anything these guys do, it's something that should sound horrible but works so well together to sound like a true work of genius. And that's what it is: pure fucking genius, laced with copious amounts of hallucinogens. Eat it up.

The Get Up Kids - "Tithe"

The Get Up Kids have been gone for a long time and the pop landscape has changed dramatically. When they left, their brand of emo pop punk was tailor made for the radio and it worked to make them a big deal. That won't work anymore though. Few bands know what to do with themselves when their scene disappears out from under them. The Get Up Kids don't really know what to do with themselves either, as evidenced by their comeback album There Are Rules. But they sure sound convincing on the opener and best song "Tithe" that they totally know what they're doing. It's a hard rocking song, erasing any evidence of their pussy past. It's slightly experimental, with lots of weird sounds going on, especially towards the middle, but for the most part it's just driving, hard hitting punk rock. If they could have kept this pace, they would have been on to something. But hey, at least they made one of the catchier and better rock out songs this year.


The Human Abstract - "Digital Veil"

Perhaps not the best song on this list, but maybe the most fun, Black Keys aside. This pounds and pounds away with a ridiculous and comical hook containing the lyrics "pull me from the gallows of this fiberoptic nation." That statement is ultimately pretty meaningless, but it carries on through the song, all the while featuring guitars sweeping in the background. Even for technical death metal, the whole thing is a bit garish, but that's what makes it stand out from a lot of other songs in this genre released this year. Even if you're not into this sort of thing (I know I'm not, for the most part), it will keep going and going with that awful hook in your head until you learn to love it. That's why it makes the list. It's a deceptive earworm that becomes pretty damned enjoyable after you let it in.

iwrestledabearonce - "Next Visible Delicious"

Who's up for some pure fucking weirdness? iwrestledabearonce's main gimmick is that they have a female screamer who doubles as a singer, but for me that's the least interesting thing about them. The most interesting is probably the prominent Mr. Bungle influence they exhibit, best showcased in the opening track from their latest LP, Ruining It for Everybody. There are strong Disco Volante overtones throughout, especially early in the song. Other aspects simply recall more recent metalcore, but they can't hide their bizarre ambitions, with the jazz rock breakdowns and scat-sung clean vocals. It's rare to hear a band carry the torch for this many conflicting influences in a song, but it all comes together to produce some of the most inspiring and intellectually stimulating metal out there right now.


Jay-Z and Kanye West - "Why I Love You (feat. Mr. Hudson)"

Watch the Throne has to be one of my absolute favorite albums of 2011. I'm a massive fan of Jay-Z and Kanye West and I believe their collaboration is a brilliant combination of their individual strengths. My favorite song on the album though has to be the closer, "Why I Love You." It's a stadium-sized blend of indie pop rock (think Coldplay) with hip-hop, featuring a soaring chorus from Mr. Hudson. It's catchy, but the lyrics have a pretty strong meaning of loyalty and betrayal, something Jay-Z is intimately familiar with considering his large amount of friends and foes. It's mostly a Jay-Z track with some interjects especially towards the end from Kanye, but that's fine because Jay-Z kills it with some of his best rapping in a long time. Watch the Throne is a testament to their greatness throughout and Jay-Z puts more effort in his rhymes and flows than he has perhaps since his retirement. Kanye always seems to bring out that great side of him. The hungry side, despite his riches. That's here in full force. The whole thing just carries so much weight and catchiness. It makes you want to dance and clap and sing along. It's a tailor made live jam. That's why I chose it, but it's really just one of a number of incredible stand-out tracks on the album. If it's not this one, it's the combination of classic rock, children's choirs, and serious subject matter on "Murder to Excellence." I can't choose just one!

La Dispute - "King Park"

La Dispute has always specialized in extremely emotional stories told by singer and principal poet Jordan Dreyer, with the music simply serving as a soundtrack to his tales. This has always been their hook and their strength. But, indeed, with their third full length release, Dreyer has found his official voice. While he used to sing with a whiny bitch sort of emotional tinge, he now knows properly how to convey his words with true emotions. He varies his pitch and his style to match the words perfectly. When the story takes an intense turn, he gets more intense. But he understands how to sound subdued or contented or worried or anxious or angry or depressed or suicidal. He's a voice actor with a band now. Nowhere is this more clear than on album highlight "King Park." This one is getting the majority of the attention centered around their latest record, Wildlife, and for good reason. At nearly seven minutes, it's the longest track on the album and it conveys the most intense and powerful story of the album. While Dreyer has previously told stories of heartbreak, he moves away from that tired subject to tell a story with some actual depth on this one. The story is that of Dreyer floating around as a ghost, watching the events of the day happening. A gang member performs a drive-by shooting, but he misses his target and kills a small child. He ends up holed up in a hotel room, surrounded by police, holding himself and a friend hostage and threatening his own life. I'm not doing the story any justice with this summary, it has to be heard to be believed, so I won't spoil the climax. Suffice it to say it will shock and move you and it stands as one of the greatest songwriting achievements of this year, bringing La Dispute to a new a level in my book as songwriters. It's just beautifully done, with Dreyer's perfectly emotional lyrics and the music matching his intensity tit for tat. Few bands can pull something like this off with such grace and eloquence.

David Lynch - "Pinky's Dream (feat. Karen O)"

One might initially be skeptical of David Lynch, the legendary director, making music. He's done so before in soundtracks for his films, but very rarely as an entity that exists on its own. This is his debut album created separately from a film. The results, however, should dispel most fears. It may not be the greatest album, but it should live up to the weird expectations of Lynch fans. The stand-out track though is the opener featuring the wonderful Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Most of the album features instrumentals or Lynch delivering vocals himself, through effects or not. This one doesn't just stand out for Karen O's admittedly superior vocal skills to Lynch's amateurish though still competent ones. It stands out for the bizarre lyrical content she is delivering. It stands out because it tells a haunting and cinematic story similar to Lynch's films. Details are scarce and one will have trouble truly understanding what is happening in the story, just like one of Lynch's films, but it also evokes strong emotions and will leave you affected. Whether you realize what is happening or not, you know it isn't good. There's no resolution to it and it leaves one wondering about Pinky and her seemingly horrible fate. The music works brilliantly establishing a landscape for O's story and it captures the perfect blend of visual storytelling in music, similar to the Bjork track on this list.

The Mars Volta - "Trinkets Pale of Moon"

This one may not count as it has only been performed live up to this moment, but any live performance is worth getting your hands on. This is sure to be the highlight of The Mars Volta's upcoming sixth album. It shows off the best of the band's slower styles, featuring some of frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala's greatest vocals of his career on the intensely gratifying chorus and especially in the post-song jam. The song started off around four minutes long, with a simple outro. But it eventually grew to be up to twenty minutes long, the remaining sixteen minutes consisting of the outro jam wherein Cedric wails and wails with so much soul it will rend your heart asunder. This one is all about him and his magnificent vocals, as well as the sparse but incredibly talented groove being laid down by new Mars Volta drummer Deantoni Parks. You may not like this one as much if you're in it just for axeman Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's acid rock noodling, but for once he takes a backseat and lets the percussion and the vocals dominate, which shows commendable restraint and just how talented the rest of the band is. The Mars Volta is known for being bombastic, but it's these moments that set them apart and show they can do more.

Megadeth - "13"

Aside from the bizarre fact that I can't stop listening to "Wrecker," one of the most idiotic songs Dave Mustaine has ever written, Thirteen, Megadeth's thirteenth album (get it?) is a piece of utter steaming garbage. The lyrics suck, the production sucks, the solos are completely forgettable, there's five songs that were already available before this album was released and the re-recordings here just made them worse, most songs feature recycled riffs, and Dave's voice has never been worse. But for one moment on the very last song, they pull it together to produce one of the better songs Megadeth has created in the last decade. The lyrics are a decent story of Mustaine's own life, the solos are actually pretty cool, the instrumentation is dynamic, and there's a cool part where they change the tempo on the chorus at the end that spices things up quite nicely. I actually quite enjoy this one and if Megadeth could do stuff like this more, I'd probably appreciate their current direction a bit more. Fans of their 90's era will probably appreciate this one more than most, but the 90's were Megadeth's best era in my opinion, so I'm quite satisfied with how this track turned out. Avoid the rest, but download this one for your collection.

Frank Ocean - "American Wedding"

Most of Frank Ocean's debut release is some great modern R&B, but he takes a detour to sample the entire song of the Eagles' "Hotel California," transposing his own lyrics and vocals over it to create the song "American Wedding." Why is it the stand-out song on the album? Well aside from the fact that "Hotel California" is a great song in and of itself, no matter how overplayed, Ocean spices it up with more meaningful lyrics than the Eagles wrote for it, giving us insight into the sorry state of marriage in America today and the heartache that it brings. It's a generic topic and one Ocean likely has little to no experience in, but he makes you believe his story with his strangely specific story and emotional and powerful vocals. Speaking of the vocals, it's probably the greatest example on the album of Ocean's pure vocal ability, the vocal ability which is making waves in the hip-hop community and earning him spots singing hooks for the likes of Jay-Z and Kanye West. The combination of a great song with those vocals and lyrics is what propels this one to be one of the best songs this year when it could have simply been a trashy and lazy rip of the original. Considering what Ocean does with this song, it matters little that he didn't write the backing track. He makes it his own.

Portugal. The Man - "Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now)"

Could this be the happiest, catchiest song Portugal. The Man has ever written? I certainly think so. There's something about frontman John Gourley's soaring, excitable falsetto that fills one with a sense of childlike joy. Where most music these days wallows and broods, Portugal. The Man takes the opposite route and decides to return to an innocent sort of joyfulness that we probably haven't heard in the world of pop rock since the Beatles. Even the biggest Beatles tribute band of all time, Oasis, chose to focus their attention on the sentimental balladry of the Beatles for the most part. But Portugal. The Man harnesses that potentially drug-induced happiness of the 60's that so few know how to do properly anymore. When they say they've got it all, you tend to believe them. While the lyrics are bit obscure, it seems to tell a story of not being able to believe that everything you ever wanted has come true. Maybe that's how they've been feeling lately since they got signed to a major label. In any case, it's a sound they've been pursuing for a couple albums now, but the formula is truly perfected on this song. It's one of those rare songs that can make a bad day good when you hear the opening guitar riff. You know it's just going to brighten things up a little bit.

Radiohead - "Lotus Flower"

Radiohead scaled things back dramatically on The King of Limbs, to create a far simpler effort than they have in many years. For some, Radiohead just being Radiohead without being groundbreaking isn't quite enough; for me, it's plenty. "Lotus Flower" brings out everything I love about Radiohead of old while still sounding very fresh. With the beautiful and haunting vocal melodies, the hilarious and bizarre music video, and the sparse electronic instrumentation which somehow feels warmer and more inviting than anything they've done in the past decade, the song builds up into a truly intellectual and yet completely pretty tune with a fair amount of danceability. Perhaps one won't want to indulge in the spastic movements that Thom Yorke employs in the video, one might hurt themselves attempting that, but it's still easy to get down to this piece, or to just contemplate it as moving and thoughtful meaningful music. It's that dichotomy that makes "Lotus Flower" essential Radiohead and an essential song of 2011.

Lou Reed and Metallica - "Cheat On Me"

Surprised to see this here? Fuck you. There's so much hate going around about this album that no one seems to see it for what it is: a brilliant piece of performance art. It showcases Metallica at their most musically open and experimental in their entire career while showing off Lou Reed's fucked up and insightful poetry. For my money, no song on the album showcases both better than "Cheat On Me." It's a song where the combination really gels, although I feel like "The View" is the only track where the combination is truly all that awkward. For the most part though, the whole album stands as an expanding of both artists sounds. You can hear Reed and Metallica challenging each other as artists and they bring out the best of each other's more avant garde tendencies to create one of the best poetic spoken word albums in years. I view the hate as something spawning from closed minded metal fans who just want Master of Puppets. But that's not what this is. Metallica play backing band to the maestro Lou Reed here and fans of the Velvet Underground should find plenty to love, especially in the longer jams like this track.

R.E.M. - "Oh My Heart"

A strong ballad, this was one of the songs from R.E.M.'s final album Collapse Into Now to make it to their career spanning compilation Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage 1982-2011 for a pretty good reason. It's straight out of Out of Time, an americana inflected ballad with powerfully moving vocals from Michael Stipe and some interesting instrumentation, centered around piano, mandolin, and accordion. It features a nice callback to the line "if the storm doesn't kill me, the government will" in "Houston" from their previous album, 2008's Accelerate, in the lyric "the storm didn't kill me, the government changed," giving us a little hope for Michael on his way out. Maybe we'll survive without R.E.M. as well, no matter how unfortunate it is that they're done now. Regardless, we can still look fondly even on their final effort, where "Oh My Heart" stands out as likely the highest point. A toast to R.E.M. and their fine career.

St. Vincent - "Cruel"

The bouncy programmed drums and distorted guitar of "Cruel" are what people will remember about this track, but the hook that really draws you in is St. Vincent mastermind Annie Clark's lilting vocal delivery, especially the sinking showcases of her range in the opening and between the choruses and the verses that evoke a dream like state. It adds an aura of beauty and elegance to the track that one wouldn't expect from a song featuring a masterfully performed but completely fucked up guitar solo in the middle of it. From a logical standpoint, none of this should work so well together. But Clark is a Berklee alumnus and is in complete control of the organized chaos the entire time, perfectly crafting an arty pop song that works its way into your head as much as anything on the radio but then gives you plenty of food for thought about the instrumentation and dynamics involved. It is the perfect evolution of Clark's St. Vincent sound and, combined with the wonderful music video, should serve as her breakthrough hit by all rights.

Thursday - "A Gun in the First Act"

Much of Thursday's latest and apparently last album, No Devolucion, focuses on a stripping down of their sound back to the days of Full Collapse and War All the Time. It rocks harder and incorporates a little less of their post rock and art rock tendencies than previous releases such as A City by the Light Divided did. But one song that is more relentless with their experimental tendencies and my favorite on the album is "A Gun in the First Act." It's heavy and intense, it features broad instrumentation, and it catches you and reels you in without mercy. It builds and grows and Geoff Rickley's wailing vocals tear at you until suddenly it gives way to the tension and strips things back down in the middle. Just for a second to make you want more though, then it explodes back with full force. Then make way for one of the most unforgiving and catchy riffs of the year along with Rickley's tastefully used screaming voice. It all serves to make this the high point of the album and shows off what makes Thursday special among all those aging post-hardcore guys from the early 2000's. Unfortunately, I guess this is their swan song and that just makes the whole thing that much more meaningful.

Touche Amore - "~"

The opening track to Touche Amore's latest collection, Parting the Sea Between Brightness and Me, acts as not only a perfect set-up to the album but a perfect set-up for their new sound and outlook. It's brighter, it's happier, it's still heavy, and it still conveys just as much emotion as ever. Touche Amore has made it, as much as a band of their style can make it, and they're celebrating, despite all the bullshit. So when vocalist Jeremy Bolm opens the song with the title of the album, it's so much more than a title. It's a life motto. It's a statement on where they are as a band. And that is a better place than they've ever been. It lets you know there is life after depression and misery and it's a brilliant way to introduce this album, which essentially flows as one long track in itself.

Tyler, the Creator - "Yonkers"

Really a number of songs from Tyler, the Creator's huge release Goblin deserve to be on a list like this. "Transylvania," "Her," "Window," "Goblin," "Golden," etc. But how could I pick any song other than the massive single, "Yonkers?" It's got that awesome music video that's so evocative and the lyrics serve as an introduction to everything that Tyler is about as a rapper. It's one of the greatest introductions to the mainstream audiences of all time. Some people have tried to turn on Tyler, Goblin, and this song because of their dramatic popularity, but that's bullshit. Tyler and his music are an accomplishment that deserve acclaim. Just because it's not your pet to trot out as "real hip-hop" as the antithesis of the "evil" mainstream doesn't mean it's not still brilliant. If one single track represents 2011 as a whole, it is "Yonkers" and this is the one we're going to be hearing about for a long time. Get used to it now.

Vivian Girls - "Light in Your Eyes"

Starting out with a rumbling bassline and static drum beat, one knows this is about to explode all over the place. Thankfully, "Light in Your Eyes" more than delivers on that promise, quickly turning into a raucous six-minute lo-fi punk jam with some of the best riffage written this year. There's little else to say about it, it just rocks really hard and makes you want to bang your head. It's energetic, it's powerful, and it plays to all of Vivian Girls' strengths as musicians. For years before their latest release, Share the Joy, I had seen Vivian Girls as having a great deal of potential but never quite reaching it. But now they've finally figured out what they do best and they do it mercilessly throughout the album. There is no greater example than "Light in Your Eyes," which serves as a closer to the album and a culmination of their efforts as a band. It's a perfection on what they do as an epic outro to their best album yet.

Wild Flag - "Romance"

It should have been obvious that I would rep for my girls at some point in this thing. I'm a sucker for all things Sleater-Kinney related and Wild Flag is the most obvious continuation of Sleater-Kinney to show up on the radar since their final album, The Woods, in 2005 and their announcement of an indefinite hiatus. Erstwhile singer and guitarist Corin Tucker's solo project was a nice detour last year featuring a sincerely interesting album, but it possessed little of the post-punk rocking of Sleater-Kinney and focused on more reflective music. Her bandmates, Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss, have come back together in Wild Flag for a more legitimate continuation of Sleater-Kinney's legacy. It's a step back from the more experimental jam sound of The Woods, back to a simpler time in S-K's history. Think Dig Me Out. But it's a necessary step back while still looking forward and experimenting with new sounds. Their debut album explodes out of the gate and hooks me immediately with a signature Brownstein guitar riff recalling "Rollercoaster" from The Woods and then the instantly satisfying chorus. It sets the stage for an album of pure indie punk goodness that almost just about makes me able to live with that "indefinite hiatus" continuing on and on and on.

Saul Williams - "Explain My Heart"

Saul Williams is a thought-provoking and soulful poet and a wonderful musician. However, he tends more towards pop and dance music on his latest album, Volcanic Sunlight, and drops the ball completely. Saul has never been one to be tamed though, so it's unsurprising that his latest album would have nothing in common with his previous work (as none of his albums have been musically or thematically connected very much) and would challenge his fans with a radically different approach. Personally, I do not feel it works. But the best track on the album, "Explain My Heart," works brilliantly and shows how good this project could have been. It remains dance-oriented while still being challenging and intellectual. It has a fat bassline one can get down to, but there's a persistent synthesizer riff, vocal chanting in the background, and tribal percussion that drives the song into a rock direction. While making this album, Saul Williams claimed he wanted to create something similar to The Mars Volta's seminal debut album Deloused in the Comatorium. "Explain My Heart" strongly succeeds. The influence is clear, but the song is different than anything The Mars Volta has done. It's distinctly Saul Williams while still bearing the effects of The Mars Volta on his music. As always, the lyrics are brilliant and also showcase Saul's talent of making his voice work for his music, in the forms of spoken-word and singing. He may not be a classically trained or talented singer, but he uses his voice in an interesting way that draws one in. All things simply seem to come together here in a way that they do not for the rest of the album. Therefore, while the album is a disappointment, this is one of Saul's greatest achievements as a solitary song and one of the best in 2011.

I Like Music by Old Black Men

Most of my taste in music generally connects with my peers in some way or another. I have friends that love post-hardcore, metal, punk, hip-hop, pop, whatever, and I can always usually find some common ground, except with those fucking dubstep kids. Hell, even my beloved Phil Collins is experiencing a renaissance with the current generation. I never thought I'd see the day when it was cool to like Phil, but nobody seems to give me shit about that anymore, except super elitists.

The one thing I can't seem to find common ground on is my intense love of music made by old black men. Well, I guess they weren't old when they made the music, but they're old as fuck now. But is there anything more soul-stirring? If there is, I can't think of it. Guys like Otis Redding, Al Green, Sam Cooke, Bill Withers, and scores of others could make you cry with the emotion in their music. But so few seem to feel that anymore.

Now this is not to say there isn't plenty of emotion in other forms of music. My true passion, emo and punk shit, is established on it. But the chaos of it all is cathartic to me, it doesn't make me want to cry (special exception being Poison the Well, those guys got it). Otis can make me want to cry any day of the week.


OTIS REDDING - a change's gonna come by MonsDefinitely

Originally written and sung by Sam Cooke, Otis Redding's version of "A Change is Gonna Come" is so much more meaningful to me than the original. There's something about Otis's haggard voice, even at the age of 24, that shows his broken soul. It drags at your heartstrings like a fucking anchor. But it's a hopeful song in a way. A change is gonna come, no matter how horrible things are and have been.



Luther Ingram's classic soul hit, "If Loving You is Wrong, I Don't Want to Be Right," is the ultimate ballad of an unrepentant cheater. It turns the general cliches of songwriting on their head. Most songs are generally about someone who's been cheated on and is hurting over it. But in this case, it's about a man who's cheating on his wife with someone else and he doesn't care because he's so in love with his mistress. It's sort of a fucked up concept, but so sincere. Let's face it, this is probably how people who cheat really feel. I wouldn't describe myself in that way, I've never been in that position either, but I can feel where he's coming from with this song. It's that power over emotions that those old soul singers had. They could make you root for the cheater. Shout outs to the Bobby Blue Bland version, which is almost more heartfelt than the original.



Let's take a look on the happier side of things, shall we?



Ok, everyone loves Michael Jackson, but this classic song isn't exactly the most popular one you'd hear at a party. People wanna hear his more rocking side, like "Beat It" or the disco inflected dance songs like "Thriller." This is just straight up classic Motown, but it's fun as hell and it has a deeper meaning too. For any jilted lover (maybe the wife in that last song), this totally resonates with you.



Bill Withers always knocks it out of the park, but his songs are usually a fair bit more depressing than this one. "Just the Two of Us" shows how beautifully poetic the man could be. It's a fairly simple and traditional love song, but the imagery evokes so much emotion. "We look for love, no time for tears, wasted water's all that is and it don't make no flowers grow." That's the kind of thing songwriters wish they could come up with, because it's such a basic thought while being incredibly poetic. It's intelligent without being pretentious. Not to mention that vocal performance and the musicianship. There's a reason the song is over seven minutes long yet still gets radio play. It's one of those songs though that gets overlooked, because you never quite grasp how amazing it is until you really listen to it.



For the last song I'm going to talk about, we have a classic Motown group, the Dells, doing a completely foreign song that was basically elevator music and turning it into heavy psychedelic soul ballad. The attraction here is the dynamic way that it's written. That soft, gentle intro and the melodic vocals lull you into a false sense of security, then it just explodes with those soaring, gruff vocals and the heavier bursts of horns, guitar, and bass, which remind one of certain heavier, later-era Beatles songs. It follows this basic pattern until the climax of the song, but it's a brilliant example of songwriting. More than that though, there's a reason there's so much feeling in screaming vocals. It puts so much more emphasis on what you're saying and conveys so much more emotion. Before punk vocalists were screaming, this is where it all started at, with guys like these tearing the hell out of their throats to express how much hurt they were feeling over their woman leaving them.

While I understand why this stuff is no longer really popular, especially among the younger generations of people, it just baffles me that no one I meet seems to truly appreciate the depth of what musicians were doing back then. While I will probably always find punk to be the truest form of musical expression, there's just something so incredibly deep and touching about this kind of music. Like I said earlier, there's nothing else that can make me feel so much through just musical performance. I wish there was anything going on like this now, but sadly, it's just fallen by the wayside for the most part. Ah well, young guys nowadays probably couldn't do it right anyway. Old black men are where it's at.

My Favorite TV Performances

This is just a quick compilation of some of my favorite live performances on TV by my favorite bands.

Alexisonfire - Pulmonary Archery


Tyler, the Creator and Hodgy Beats - "Sandwitches"


The Mars Volta - "Wax Simulacra"


At the Drive-In - "One Armed Scissor"


The Blood Brothers - "Set Fire to the Face on Fire"


What are some of your favorites? Post them in the comments!

"I Saw the Pixies" by Andrew Menzies

[Ed. Note: Andrew saw the Pixies and I've been too busy to post this article about it, so apologies to him and you, the readers. Without further ado, here it is...]

There are two driving forces in my life. One is the pleasing arrangement of words into succinct thoughts, ideas and suggestions that provoke a reaction within the reader’s mind. The second is the pleasing arrangement of musical notes designed to do much of the same thing but vocally, and sometimes with auto-tune. The former- writing- I can safely say I know how to do as well as I know how to absorb. I can’t play music worth a God damn but I’m really good at experiencing it.

I hadn’t bought a record in a store since maybe Wilco’s last album a year or so ago, and as I recall I leant it to some bitch who still hasn’t given it back. (I always use “bitch” without gender bias. It’s a pejorative bitch. But in this case yes, I am totally referring to a woman.) So it was a special occasion, stoned out of gourds and wandering through a big-box electronics store a day after the album in question came out. Sure, we could have purchased it on iTunes, downloaded it, maybe saved the effort to get to a store, but it’s been a tradition in my life that when the Beastie Boys release a new album, you go outside and buy the motherfucker.

“Hot Sauce Committee Part Two” is a very good album. I told someone it was their best since (hands-down the greatest hip hop album of all time,) “Paul’s Boutique” and they didn’t know what I was talking about so I walked away and cursed under my breath.

I had a point. Rewind. Facts? Okay. I love the Beastie Boys. Last album was in 2004, so this was a big deal. I got it a day late. The point… why? Yes, why. Right. Why was I day late to grab the first album in seven years from a group I love? Well, because the night before I was at a Pixies concert. And I love them more.

They played “Doolittle” in its entirety, with a few b-sides and an absolutely skull-fucking encore of “Where Is My Mind?”, “Broken Face” and others. Up until the lights dimmed and some weird-for-weird’s sake Dali short film was projected onto a massive make-shift metal screen, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get the chance to see the Pixies play in person. They broke up before I was nine years old. Everything I read told me they hated each other, that Frank Black was over the songs and didn’t want to play them anymore. But hope was renewed when they came to Vancouver in 2004- a year before I made the move- though I missed what I figured was my only chance. So imagine the grin plastered across my mouth and cheeks as Frank screamed the chorus to “Crackity Jones”.

To quote Ben Affleck in an otherwise shitty movie: “Ear to ear, baby!”

It was a moment. Wilco was a moment. Metallica was a moment. The third Matt Good show I saw- the one where I got punched in the face during “Apparitions” because the crowd was swaying and I bumped into some dude’s girlfriend and may or may not have broken my fall with a full-on palm to the breast, (instinctively, not on purpose)- was a moment. You grow up or grow with bands, artists, songs, albums. It’s so easy to associate a song with a person or memory so that every time you hear it until you are dead those feelings swell, for better or for worse. And, for me at least, when you break the plastic curtain of compact discs and whatever material you could associate with MP3s and get a chance to see a beloved artist play live, it’s kind of fucked up. They’re they are: the dudes who made the music you previously enjoyed alone with earbuds on transit, or perhaps one or two times when you tried to share it with a friend but they didn’t give a shit because it wasn’t their thing, though at the time you resented them because of their missive attitudes towards your taste in music and it drastically altered the course of your relationship. But that’s neither here nor there.

(And yeah, Kim Deal is still gorgeous. If I had a time machine, I’d go back to 1989 and press my luck.)

[Ed. Note: As always, Andrew has his own project over at http://www.bobandandrew.com/ where he makes a webseries and you should check that out too!]

Album Reviews - 5/10/2011

Times New Viking - Dancer Equired (2011)



Not content to just rip off Sonic Youth's noisier moments, Times New Viking decide to make a turn towards Sonic Youth's softer side for the duration of an album. It's uncomfortably boring and awkward, losing any of the appeal these guys had to begin with. They weren't very interesting before, but at least they rocked out hard enough. Seeing them live opening for Yo La Tengo was far from a chore, in fact, it was actually sort of fun. But their new material is entirely coma-inducing. Without the distorted guitars to mask their poor songwriting, they've got nothing. (D)

Between the Buried and Me - The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues (2011)



A thirty minute album with three songs. Even if you do like the music, you can't justify that. The songs don't justify it either. All of them exceed their welcome about five minutes in, becoming background noise for their duration. It takes a lot for songs of this length to maintain interest. Between the Buried and Me used to be good at that, but there are poor decisions contained herein that actually annoy one to listen to the songs the entire way through. There's some vintage BtBaM riffage, of course, but one is harshly awakened when they hear the bizarre cleanly spoken almost-a-rap-but-not-really part or the carnival music interludes. These things keep the album from even being pleasant to trudge through. I'd be lying if I said this wasn't the worst thing they've ever released (excepting the covers album, covers albums are never good anyway) but it would be too harsh to call it bad music. It's decent enough, but I can't seem to find any enjoyment in hearing it. (C-)

Sonic Youth - Simon Werner a Disparu (2011)



Sketches of ideas that could have been good Sonic Youth songs if fully explored. Perhaps they will be one day when Sonic Youth get around to making a real new album. In the meantime, what you're left with is a half-baked soundtrack with little purpose outside the context of the film you've never seen (don't lie). Various riffs and parts of songs stand out, but nothing formulates to wholly thought out or completed work, so it's all fairly irrelevant to anyone that isn't a Sonic Youth diehard. (C-)

Monotonix - Not Yet (2011)



One wonders if Monotonix puts any thought into their albums at all or if they're simply a means to an end. A way to justify their continued existence as a live band which is, by all accounts, the only thing about them that really matters. Their insane live shows which have even ended with the lead singer breaking his leg on stage are legendary. People will be talking about those for years. But who the fuck remembers anything from any of their albums? Not Yet does absolutely nothing to change that. (D)

...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Tao of the Dead (2011)



Trail of Dead have always had the potential to be one of the great bands of our time and not once have they fulfilled that promise. It's become increasingly predictable to listen to their albums, knowing that they'll always be good but just short of being great. I'm not sure what they could do to make things better. The songwriting on Tao of the Dead is ace, maybe the best they've ever done. But it still doesn't achieve the great heights they were meant for. They're partially dragged down by the awful production on each and every album they've ever recorded, but that couldn't be entirely the problem since there are plenty of poorly produced classic albums. There's just something missing that they can't find. I don't know what it is, but it's still missing on Tao of the Dead and maybe it always will be. (C)

Corinne Bailey Rae - The Love EP (2011)



For whatever reason, Corinne Bailey Rae decided her next career move would be a five song covers EP. Covers albums are never a good idea, but she has a fantastic voice and interesting enough ideas to make this enjoyable. The only thing wrong with it is that she stays almost too true to the original source material. The stand-out is the cover of Belly's "Low Red Moon" which is fantastic but sounds identical to the original song. It was great once, so it's great again with Corinne singing, but one wonders what the point is. I suppose it was fun for her to sing a song she loves, but in the case of almost every cover on here (the exception being the ending jam of Prince's "I Wanna Be Your Lover"), there's so little deviation that you never feel like The Love EP is necessary to listen to in any way. The saving grace is that she didn't make any bad choices for covers here so it never lets you down too much that they're identical to the originals in most every way. (B)

Radiohead - The King of Limbs (2011)



Anyone looking for the next classic, genre-defining, genre-defying Radiohead album will be sorely disappointed. That wasn't the point this time. Radiohead needed to be free of those expectations to continue to exist. So they offered up a serving of material in the vein of Kid A, Amnesiac, and In Rainbows with few radical changes. Despite the lack of new sounds, Radiohead are a great band so anything they do will have some validity. To continue to exist, Radiohead to break away and make an album like this and it's surprising they didn't take this step sooner. Radiohead have settled into a groove on The King of Limbs. There's nothing truly surprising, but not everything Radiohead does has to shock the system. Instead, they focused on writing great songs in the way they have before. So while The King of Limbs might not go down as a classic like the other aforementioned albums, it is a perfectly fine album in and of itself with some truly great Radiohead songs. That's all they wanted and it's all anyone can really ask for from them at this point. They're battle-worn veterans, give them a break and enjoy what they're offering. (B+)

Protest the Hero - Scurrilous (2011)



Protest the Hero would be a great band without the cheesy prog metal singer. Because of him, they will never achieve anything of note, despite interesting songwriting and truly talented musicianship. Each and every moment is dragged down by his crooning and it makes all their efforts all for naught. Scurrilous is no different. In fact, it may be a little bit worse about it. Regardless, call me when they fire that dude, I don't have time for this shit. (D)

Thurston Moore - Solo Acoustic Volume Five (2011)



Ever wondered what those dissonant chords Sonic Youth are always playing would sound like on an acoustic guitar? Now you can. They sound like ass, if you were wondering. This may be one of the most painful listening experiences I've ever had to endure and I recommend it to no one. Thurston Moore is a superb songwriter, but just noodling around, playing shitty chords on his acoustic is not and has never been why I like him. This actually hurt my ears to listen to, which is an amazing feat, but not one I'd ever want to repeat. (F)

The Strokes - Angles (2011)



Wait, what just happened? I just woke up. I think I fell asleep somewhere on track three of the latest generic, bland, boring bullshit from the Strokes. Shit, I was supposed to review that album and I don't remember a goddamn thing that happened on it. It was all just so coma-inducing and not one bit of it caught my interest in the slightest. Can I even say I listened to it? Fuck it, I'm not even going to try again. I'm just going to give it a D and move on with my life. (D)

David Bowie - Toy (2011)



No one loves David Bowie more than I do. If you ask me what the greatest album of all time is, I'll answer "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" nine times out of ten. But some things need to stay vaulted. Back in 2001, Bowie recorded this album of rerecordings of some of his earliest and most obscure songs. I guess revisiting and reconnecting with his roots was a good thing, it set him on the right course for the albums that followed (the career closing duo of Heathen and Reality which still stand as some of his best work), but listening to Toy, you realize why Bowie never released it. To put it frankly, it sucks. These weren't highlights of his songwriting to begin with and updating them with early-aught's adult contemporary arrangements and production did nothing to improve upon them. There's little of note on here and anything worthwhile came out on Heathen or related B-sides. Essentially, Bowie culled whatever good could come of this project and scrapped the rest. Unearthing it in 2011 in a Bowie drought just serves to further reveal how truly embarrassing this would have been had it been released. There's a definite demand for new Bowie material right now and this isn't going to satisfy it, sadly. (D)

Heidecker & Wood - Starting From Nowhere (2011)



A sincere look into 1970's soft rock, but one has to wonder who would actually enjoy listening to this? The lyrics are funny in that they're horrible and yet distinctly true to bad 70's singer-songwriter types, but that's where the fun ends. The whole thing is so faithful to what it's parodying that it ceases to be parody. So in the end what you're left with is pretty much something only your dad would enjoy. Still, for the Tim and Eric fan, it might be worth buying for your dad as a gift just as a way to bridge the gap between your interests. He might never look at those weirdos you like so much the same again. (D)

Obits - Moody, Standard and Poor (2011)



Continuing their one great song per album average, Obits trudge through a sophmore release of poorly written garage rock. It never rocks hard enough to stand up to classic Rick Froberg fronted bands and it's never enough fun to overcome its flawed tameness. It's as though Froberg has accepted his age and chosen to no longer do anything with any edge. He's simply content to write the same song over and over again, except it's not even a good one. I know he still has the capability, the first song on this album proves that, but he's happy in mediocrity. So be it, I'll look to his ex-songwriting partner John Reis for good punk jams these days. (D)

Lupe Fiasco - Lasers (2011)



The story is that the record label fucked this one up. Lupe says he hates it. Whatever went wrong, he's right to hate it. It's pure fucking garbage, most of it taking away any talent Lupe used to have to try and achieve a major hip-hop radio hit. Lupe isn't Bruno Mars or Drake or Eminem though so he just can't pull it off without selling himself short. He tries to go for some real attacks, but they don't come off biting, they come off weak and rambling. His big political song, "Words I Never Said," has the coherency of a rant by the homeless conspiracy theorist you see on your morning commute with the tin-foil hat and the "THE END IS NEAR" sandwich board. Lead single "The Show Goes On" uses a Modest Mouse sample in the worst, most offensive way possible. Everything on here will just serve to infuriate anyone who used to like Lupe and it's a damn shame that they had to wait and fight all this time for this garbage. A damn shame. (F)

Raekwon - Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang (2011)



Aside from "Rock 'N Roll" being maybe the worst song ever associated with Wu-Tang Clan member, this is a fairly decent album. It's a nice comedown from Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II, but it's not the sort of album Raekwon can afford to make again. He's riding on enough goodwill after his last epic release to scrape by with a mediocre album like this, but two in a row will completely kill the wave of hype. Good thing for us, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx III is on the way. Hopefully it will blow Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang out of the water. (C-)

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues (2011)



Indie folk bands these days can only seem to put out albums with one good song on them. See my reviews of Woods for more on that. Helplessness Blues isn't quite so limited, the songs here are largely all decent, reminding one of early Genesis when they were essentially progressive folk, but they all meander and never reach a large enough hook to keep one entertained. The only song that achieves this is "The Shrine / An Argument" by way of a rawly produced lead vocal that actually packs some emotion in it. It's the only song you'll really take notice of and one song does not an album make. Fleet Foxes have plenty of potential and a winning sound, so maybe one day they'll release a truly worthwhile full-length. Helplessness Blues just isn't it. (C)

"Transit Story" by Andrew Menzies

[Ed. Note: Andrew describes this one as "different," but you should all give it a look. It's good.]

Like most self-proclaimed music aficionados, I have an acoustic guitar.

I suck. I can’t play anything. Well, I can- the first three seconds of “Heart of Gold”, a part of a Metallica song before it goes crazy. I know random smatterings of power chords; The Ramones chords. I can transition from D to G to C but not back to D. I know nothing substantial or remotely impressive and I’m certainly not as good as my writing partner. Bastard loves to sing songs written by musicians I couldn‘t care less about. His passion is admirable. Mine is devoid.

On the rare occasion an opportunity presents itself for my guitar-ownership to come into question, I never proclaim that I play guitar. Rather, I own one. It was a gift. It doesn’t get out much. (Besides, I never want to be the guy at the patio party playing three-chord Pixies covers to the drunkest girls. Actually that sounds kind of awesome.)

Lately I’ll turn from my work-station to glance at my axe and feel nothing but disdain. In much the same way I imagine a blacksmith doesn’t screw around with a mop, I’ve decided as a writer not to screw around with anything but a pencil, pen, keyboard or calligraphy set. It’s better for everyone.

Here’s a story of brief, exhausting anxiety that has nothing to do with the above admission.

When I go to the local big box literature retailer to purchase my annual issue of Maximumrockandroll, I get a feeling much aligned with what I imagine the sense one has when caught masturbating in public. A little fear. A little gilt. A lot of pride. There’s only one store I know of that carries the magazine and its selection is massive: if you’re a gardener, hamster-enthusiast or just really into college basketball, there’s some kind of magazine there for you.

It’s downtown so I have to take the train. I’ve got my headphones on and I’ve made it through the transit checkpoint without making eye contact with anyone. I notice a young female sit down next to me. She’s wearing all black and presenting her veiny cleavage rather proudly. She smelled like sweat and bad weed, but the sun was shining, the wind was kipping through the emergency smoke window, and I had new illegally downloaded music to keep me company. I can handle this.

I’m fascinated by her, but not in the usual way a transit-lady does. She keeps stamping her leg- not her foot, her whole fucking leg- to whatever she’s got playing on her dollar-store over-the-ear headphones. She’s just giving it- SMACK. SMACK. SMACK. Every pump as full-throttled as the last. The rest of her body doesn’t match. I sneak a glimpse and the big ugly white-girl sunglasses she has on aren‘t moving. Unkempt hair isn’t jostling, either. Even her chest is motionless, to which I begin to wonder if the theory of inertia has just been debunked. My mind strays, and I calculate what the odds are that there’s a scientist on board, and if we get some kind of co-discoverer credit when they write up the article in Popular Mechanics. Either way, she keeps going. SMACK. SMACK.

I tap my foot the drum beat in songs some times. It’s more to do with being bored or fidgety, not so much digging the tune that I feel the need to physically demonstrate my joy to strangers. When I see other people doing it, I really want to know what they’re listening to. Do I know the song? Is it something new that I should check out? Is it really terrible, like one of those guilty-pleasure tunes? Is it Skynyrd? Who the hell listens to “Free Bird” on headphones? It’s for Cameron Crowe movies and last call at the pub. Oh, it’s not “Free Bird”? Okay, cool dude. Sorry to bother you. Yeah, sure I can bum you a cigarette.

But I’m the only one who seems to notice. SMACK. SMACK. It’s not annoying, just concerning. The train rocks a bit. It does this from time to time- garbage on the track, extreme changes in weather. (I’m making this up. I don’t God damned know.) Normal. No one stirs. Then, the train stammers more so than usual and we all lurch forward about three inches. But not to worry: those who were standing remain so. Strollers don’t budge so long as the brakes are locked. The elderly barely crack so much as a cautious look across their broken, down-trodden “why the hell won’t my children drive me to my osteoporosis doctor?” faces. Everything‘s cool, right? No. This three inches, it’s just enough for gothed-out, sunglasses the size of saucers-wearing, murky puke bathwater-smelling Nipply Van Daniels’ tree trunk of a leg to move above mine on the upswing and come crashing down on my shoe as she demonstrates her love for song. SMACK.

It hurts. I grimace, clench my fists and try not to swear. She had to have noticed: the feedback from the fibre-glass floor replaced with the give of human flesh is highly distinguishable, I imagined. The dude across from us, well his concerned eyes are not at all helping the bruise that’s quickly forming under my sneaker. But she keeps going, her hoof now realigned to make contact with the ground like nothing ever happened. SMACK. SMACK.

My stop comes. I stand, limping to the door and only slightly exaggerating my injury. I curse to myself. “What an asshole. An apology would absolutely make me forget about this.” After checking the time on my cellphone, I catch her reflection in the train doors. Guess this is her stop too.

I take my time, remove my headphones and try to give her a chance to notice me and make amends. But I get bored because I walk faster than most people- prove me wrong- and jaunt up the escalator. Fuck it. I stop for a coffee. She’s suddenly in line behind me. She removes her sunglasses to order.

Down’s syndrome.

And I forgive her.

May all the hipsters burn. Good day.

[Ed. Note: As always, Andrew has his own project over at http://www.bobandandrew.com/ where he makes a webseries and you should check that out too!]

Album Reviews 4/8/11

Towers of London - Blood, Sweat and Towers (2006)



Over the years there have been countless imitators of classic 70's punk with increasingly diminishing returns. The big surprise here is that someone would even attempt it in 2006. Was it not played out enough? But Towers of London did it. Apparently even made something of a name for themselves in England. And the truth is, they're not the worst band ever. They're a rip-off of their influences, but they're semi-talented at what they do. But they're just so artificial and manufactured. Blood, Sweat and Towers is pure plastic. There's nothing dangerous about them, it's all an act. Towers of London are an image, a bunch of pretty boys in "punk" clothing whose music may honestly be less important to them than their appearance. This is a hair metal album disguising itself as punk. It might be enjoyable if it wasn't so goddamn offensive as a fan of real music played by real musicians. (D)

Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan (1962)



A rather quaint album by later Dylan standards, his debut is purely roots folk. It follows a path set by many before him, featuring almost nothing original and many rearrangements of classic songs. It gives insight to where he would go as this set of songs are clear influences on his own subsequent writing, but it's a poor look into the man's own genius. It reflects the genius of others and the only real indication of Dylan's own mind is in the arrangements. Those are nice and the album features a wonderful precursor version of "House of the Rising Sun" which the Animals would clearly be influenced by just a few years later for their classic version, but don't expect to be blown away by anything on here except maybe the raw, youthful intensity of Dylan's singing. Bob Dylan's debut is a great album, just not a great Bob Dylan album. (B)

Daytrader - Last Days of Rome (2011)



"What the fuck happened to these guys?," I thought as I first listened to this EP. Daytrader started off just a few months ago with a demo tape of three songs that sounded like a clear throwback to 90's emo bands like At the Drive-In and Jawbreaker. It was a treat to listen to, being such a huge fan of that music. But in only a few short months, something has clearly happened and they've taken a dramatic shift in their style. Instead of playing 90's emo, they're playing cleaned up, well-produced, poppy 00's emo, reminiscent of bands like Brand New and Taking Back Sunday. It's a bizarre turn. If they're looking for mainstream success, they won't find it aping a style that was popular ten years ago. If they want to do a throwback sort of thing, well, why not stick with their original sound? Still, there's some good to be found on here. Their new style is just as nostalgic and beloved as their old one and it will be well received by an entirely different sub-group of emo fans. But fans of the old Daytrader, try before you buy, your mileage may vary as to how much you like the new Daytrader as they sound like completely different bands. (C+)

Cake - Showroom of Compassion (2011)



Cake wanted to make a deep, mature, triumphant return with Showroom of Compassion. But how you want things to turn out and how they do turn out are often two very different things. Cake is a band that hasn't been quite relevant in a very long time. Their hits are still popular, but I'm guessing it was the 90's the last time anybody played a whole album of theirs. As comebacks go, it usually takes more than a decade before a band can make the shift from hip, new band to well-respected, veteran band that for whatever reason people have started listening to again. It hasn't quite been long enough, so where Cake is is right in the middle of that. They're well-respected veterans whose influence can be heard in many new bands, but nobody is ready to start listening to them again and apparently they have yet to find their middle-age niche musically either. Showroom of Compassion desperately wants to see Cake get serious instead of fun like they used to be, but it's a sub-par attempt. Apparently Cake's plan to go through puberty is to ape the Beatles as much as fucking possible. But no matter how hard they try, they aren't John Lennon. It's sad to hear really. As someone who went in just wanting to hear a new "Never There" or "The Distance," I found myself exceedingly disappointed. Not because I'm not willing to give a band a chance to try new things, but because in an effort to specifically not do songs like those anymore, Cake has stripped away any of their appeal. They're just boring old men now. (D)

The Decemberists - The King is Dead (2011)



For The King is Dead, the Decemberists decided to strip down their sound, quit making grand, epic concept albums, and just make a good old indie americana album. They almost did that. They did strip down a lot and they did avoid making any sort of epic, but they made a detour from a good old indie americana album. It is that, but it's something more. It's the direct sequel to R.E.M.'s classic Automatic for the People. Frontman Colin Meloy has said it was never his intention to sound so much like R.E.M. on this record, it just happened. Well, it must have been somewhat intentional as R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck sits in on three songs, including the lead single and country version of "The One I Love," "Down By the Water." Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, it fulfills a promise never fully explored by R.E.M. themselves. Back in the Automatic for the People days, there was much turmoil in that band and shortly after they took an ill-advised rock turn away from the americana direction they had been pursuing, releasing the poorly received Monster instead. We never got to hear how further pursuing their sound of the time would have turned out, but Meloy must have been able to somehow hear where it would go and decided to make it himself. This is no discredit to him or his band of course. It's not my intention to make this review entirely about the album's major influence, it just happened. There's no shame in what this album does. The King is Dead is actually a wonderful effort on the part of the band, but it's hard not to hear that other band in the Decemberists constantly throughout the record, right down to Meloy's somewhat Michael Stipe-influenced vocal stylings. Regardless of where it all comes from, it fulfills its promise and its purpose dramatically and while it might stand as an oddity in their own discography, it's still a fantastic album of Decemberists country rock. (A)

Various Artists - 21 Songs (2011)



A good compilation showcasing a lot of unknown bands in the screamo scene of 2011. That being said, because it does focus on a single genre where there are many similarities between bands, it's hard to distinguish one band from another here. These bands are mostly unknown for a reason, that being that they're new and have yet to develop a unique sound or a twist on the genre big enough to make them stand out from one another. Their names are ridiculous, meaningless, and forgettable and their music is so entirely generic for the genre that, while being entertaining for fans of this kind of thing, you'll find yourself hard-pressed to remember who did what or memorize any of the songs. If any of these bands find a way to break the mould, that will make 21 Songs an important touchstone for their humble beginnings. But until that happens, you're left with a lot of decent songs (which are mostly Funeral Diner and Saetia rip-offs but still enjoyable despite their heavy-handed influence biting) by decent bands that have yet to become something special. As these things go, there's usually one bigger band anchoring the compilation and that would be Lizards Have Personalities, who have been around for a minute and have made some great music. Even their song isn't one of their best though. It's simply typical of them. I would be interested to hear albums by these bands now and 21 Songs fulfills its purpose in that respect. What seems generic here may stand out well by itself. But in the context of the compilation, it's almost the same song done twenty one times. There's also the matter of the varying recording quality, which can be quite jarring. From band to band, you get better or worse production. It makes the ones with less of a budget (or less experience in self-producing) look that much worse, which is disappointing because they may actually be better bands than the ones with good production but they sink under the weight of their tin-can sound. If you're looking for a great compilation with all the best bands, this isn't it, but if you're a fan of any of these bands already, it's worth checking out for an extra song by a band you already like. You won't discover much new to love here though. (D)

Cold War Kids - Mine is Yours (2011)



These guys started so promisingly with Robbers & Cowards, but in retrospect, how promising was it really? It was melodramatic as hell and only about half the album was really any good. That half was great though and had they pursued that half further maybe they would have gone somewhere. Instead, they abandoned all the artistic integrity and deep themes presented in the good half of that album. They didn't even follow through with the promise of the mediocre parts of that album. Instead, they just abandoned their lyrical content, trading instead in pop radio cliches, and transformed their music into some amazingly boring mix of indie rock circa 2005 and schmaltzy piano balladry right of adult contemporary stations around the world. It's weak shit for a band that had so much potential in the beginning. The few experimental parts of the album, like "Sensitive Kid" and "Cold Toes on the Cold Floor," end up being just plain forced and ridiculous. The rest is the sort of garbage fed to the masses that even the most casual of music listeners doesn't even like. Mine is Yours reminds me of the songs I hear in cars with other people that they skip while looking for something decent on terrestrial radio. (D)