Telepathe

Click here for part one of our guide to 2009’s must-hear LPs. We’ll run a list of honorable mentions on our Tumblr page this weekend. Happy New Year everyone! 

The Artist/Album: The Antlers, Hospice (Frenchkiss)

The Vibe: Front-row seats to the last rites of a flat-lining relationship.

RIYL: Concept albums that aren’t cloying; Funeral proceedings; breakup albums that are big on metaphors and light on lovey-dovey nonsense

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The Artist/Album: Black Meteoric Star, Black Meteoric Star (DFA)

The Vibe: A joyride to the center of the earth.

RIYL: Asymmetric and analog synth lines; Reich-ian techno; David Hasselhoff’s one redeeming quality (read: Knight Rider)

Related Reading:

• FREE ASSOCIATION: A Track-By-Track Breakdown of Black Meteoric Star

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The Artist/Album: Circlesquare, Songs About Dancing and Drugs (!K7)

The Vibe: Minimal meditations on what happens when the drugs don’t work and the night never ends.

RIYL: Vapor trails; last calls; driving from dusk ’til dawn

Related Reading:

• FIRE WALK WITH US: Circlesquare Tries Decoding David Lynch’s Career

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The Artist/Album: Fuck Buttons, Tarot Sport (ATP)

The Vibe: The machines have taken over, but they don’t want to kill us. They want to party and make us feel alive again. 

RIYL: K-holes; time travel; feeling fucking triumphant

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The Artist/Album: The Horrors, Primary Colours (XL)

The Vibe: Recovering schlock rockers get a serious makeover courtesy of Geoff Barrow (Portishead) and Chris Cunningham (one of the greatest music video directors of all time, as proven by the following mind-fucking clips: “Windowlicker” and “All Is Full of Love”).

RIYL: Krautrock keys; moody Brits; second chances

Related Reading:

• BUY IT: The Horrors
• An exclusive illustration from Faris Rotter, as inspired by Blank Dogs’ Under and Under LP

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The Artist/Album: King Midas Sound, Waiting For You (Hyperdub)

The Vibe: The bleakest dub-derived masterpiece since Burial’s Untrue LP.

RIYL: Massive Attack’s Mezzanine era; beat poetry; the shape-shifting soundscapes of Kevin Martin (The Bug, Techno Animal, Pressure)

Related Reading:

• THE TIPPING POINT: King Midas Sound Share Their Favorite Poets, Artists and Producers
• TEST PRESSING: Download a King Midas Sound Mix Featuring My Bloody Valentine, Burial, Sade & More

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The Artist/Album: Krallice, Dimensional Bleedthrough (Profound Lore)

The Vibe: Corpsepaint-free KVLT-ness.

RIYL: Plate tectonics; scholarly shredding; riding the snake

Related Reading:

• A QUICK TALK WITH MICK BARR ABOUT … His Long-Lost Black-Metal LP, 45-Minute Guitar Solos and Just How Killer the New Krallice Album Is
• SUPPORT THIS: And This Week’s Must-See Opening Act Is…Krallice

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The Artist/Album: Leyland Kirby, Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was (History Always Favours the Winners, 2009)

The Vibe: A four-hour tone poem about the “fragility of existence”—one that’s strikingly beautiful and (surprisingly) never boring.

RIYL: Power naps; quality-controlled trilogies; the Selected Ambient Works period of Aphex Twin

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The Artist/Album: Shackleton, Three EPs (Perlon)

The Vibe: Paranoia, paranoia, everybody’s coming to get me.

RIYL: Drum-driven dread; deviant dubstep; what happens to buzz-worthy electronic artists after they move to Berlin

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The Artist/Album: Telepathe, Dance Mother (IAMSOUND)

The Vibe: Nocturnal nursery rhymes set against sinister samples, lazy loops and subterranean bass lines.

RIYL: Laser tag; Grimm’s Fairy Tales; Dave Sitek’s hypnotic hand

Related Reading:

• When GZA Met Telepathe

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The Artist/Album: Tombs, Winter Hours (Relapse)

The Vibe: Ravenous but refined.

RIYL: Skinny dipping in Dante’s Inferno; killer bee chords; charred remains

Related Reading:

• BUY IT: Tombs
• FEED THE ANGER: Tombs @ Union Pool, 2.4.09
• LISTENING STATION: Tombs Shares Their Record Collection

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The Artist/Album: YACHT, See Mystery Lights (DFA)

The Vibe: What electro-clash should have sounded like.

RIYL: Self-help seminars; cowbells; call-and-response choruses

Related Reading:

• A QUICK TALK WITH YACHT ABOUT … Life, Death and Their Rejected DFA Record

[Dirty Projectors @ Austin City Limits, 10.4.09]

[Boys Noize @ Central Park SummerStage, 8.8.09]

[MSTRKRFT @ All Points West, 8.31.09]

[Jay-Z @ All Points West, 8.31.09]

[Australia's Parklife Festival, 9.12.09]

[A Lightning Bolt fan @ Above the Auto Parts Store, 10.30.09]

[Sunn O))) @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 9.22.09]

[Throbbing Gristle @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 4.16.09]

[Yeah Yeah Yeahs @ Santos Party House, 4.12.09]

[Ganglians @ Santos Party House, 9.24.09]

[Das Racist @ Webster Hall Studio, 8.20.09]

[Metallica @ SxSW, 3.20.09]

[Micachu & the Shapes @ Piano's, 3.25.09]

[The Big Pink @ Mercury Lounge, 6.15.09]

[Real Estate @ Silent Barn, 9.12.09]

[The Pitchfork Music Festival]

[SxSW Crowd Shots]

[Scion Rock Fest Crowd Shots]

[Nine Inch Nails @ Terminal 5, 8.25.09]

[A Place to Bury Strangers @ Bowery Ballroom, 10.29.09]

[The Arctic Monkeys @ Highline Ballroom, 8.3.09]

[Fever Ray @ Webster Hall, 9.28.09]

[Jay Reatard @ Stuy Town Oval, 7.1.09]

[The Wrens @ The Bell House, 4.10.09]

[Thurston Moore & Carlos Giffoni @ Glasslands, 3.14.09]

[Fischerspooner @ Music Hall of Williamsburg]

[Converge @ Europa, 3.27.09]

[Yeasayer @ Guggenheim Museum, 10.30.09]

[Monotonix @ Santos Party House, 10.9.09]

[The Dead Weather @ Bowery Ballroom, 4.14.09]

[Peter Bjorn and John @ W Hotel, 3.17.09]

[The Prodigy @ Roseland Ballroom, 3.26.09]

[Free Blood @ (Le) Poisson Rouge, 1.16.09]

[Fucked Up @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 11.5.09]

[Down @ Nokia Theatre, 9.11.09]

[Torche @ Highline Ballroom, 4.19.09]

[The Flaming Lips @ Pitchfork Music Festival, 7.19.09]

[HEALTH @ JellyNYC Pool Party, 7.26.09]

[Wavves @ Santos Party House, 9.24.09]

[Duchess Says @ Arlene's Grocery, 10.21.09]

[Of Montreal @ Terminal 5, 9.18.09]

[The Kills @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 5.4.09]

[Parklife Festival]

[Titus Andronicus fans @ Monster Island Basement, 9.2.09]

[Washed Out @ Santos Party House, 10.19.09]

[Pig Destroyer @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple, 7.31.09]

[Grizzly Bear @ The New Yorker's "Speakeasy" Event, 2.14.09]

[Bat For Lashes @ Bowery Ballroom, 4.30.09]

[Wizardry @ Glasslands, 5.12.09]

[Daniel Johnston @ Austin City Limits]

[Coachella 2009]

[!!! @ Terminal 5, 9.4.09]

[Dark Meat @ Glasslands, 10.24.09]

[Crystal Castles @ All Points West, 9.1.09]

[A Surfer Blood Show @ Market Hotel, 10.23.09]

[Jamie Lidell @ (Le) Poisson Rouge, 9.5.09]

[Julian Plenti @ Guggenheim Museum, 9.25.09]

[Dan Deacon and Deerhunter @ Brooklyn Bowl, 8.2.09]

[Thee Oh Sees @ The Siren Festival, 7.18.09]

[YACHT @ SxSW]

[The Black Lips @ JellyNYC Pool Party, 7.26.09]

[Primal Scream @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 3.29.09]

[The Horrors @ Music Hall of Williamsburg, 5.4.09]

[Boredoms @ Terminal 5, 9.9.09]

[Photo by Alexander Wagner]

Instead of going on and on about our top picks of 2009—like we did here—self-titled asked some of our favorite artists to share their favorite records. Presenting our obligatory Animal Collective post, as written by We Were Promised Jetpacks…

Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino)
This is a glorious piece of work—heartfelt and honest pop music with as much in common with Stockhausen as the Beach Boys. It’s hard to work out how they managed to cross the crooked bridge between pop and sonic art, but this album does it better than anything else released this year. — Michael Palmer

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RELATED READING:

• I WAS THERE: Animal Collective Test the Patience of Recent Converts and Longtime Fans At Second Prospect Park Show
• I WAS THERE: Animal Collective @ Grand Ballroom, 1.20.09
• SUPPORT THIS: We Were Promised Jetpacks Deliver Breakthrough Set At Bowery Ballroom
• PEEP SHOW: We Were Promised Jetpacks Unplugged @ SxSW

FURTHER VIEWING/LISTENING:

Florence and the Machine

[Photo by Ivan Jones]

Sorry to break it to you, blogosphere, but we just don’t believe in lists anymore. They’re just so arbitrary, and a couple mouse clicks away from being obsolete, you know?

That’s why we decided to give you a completely random rundown of our favorite ‘09 releases—because it’s not as predictable or pointless as an argument over “who’s No. 1 this year, Dirty Projectors or Animal Collective?” Be sure to watch out for a second set of s/t-endorsed records before the clock strikes 12 on Thursday night.

The Artist/Album: 2562, Unbalance (Tectonic)

The Vibe: Tomorrow’s dubstep today.

RIYL: Intercepted space stations; traces of techno; feeling a bit wonky

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The Artist/Album: A Place To Bury Strangers, Exploding Head (Mute)

The Vibe: New York’s ‘loudest band’ learns how to bark without losing their bite.

RIYL: Strobe lights; jet packs; hazy hooks

Related Reading:

• WAVE OF MUTILATION: Oliver Ackermann Shares His Kevin Shields-Endorsed Guitar Pedals
• 1MM: A Place to Bury Strangers Claim “Head” Casualties at Bowery Ballroom
• SIREN FEST SPOTLIGHT: A Place to Bury Strangers Beat the Living Shit Out of Their Gear Without Actually Breaking Anything

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The Artist/Album: Bat For Lashes, Two Suns (Astralwerks)

The Vibe: A reason to redefine “ethereal,” Merriam-Webster be damned.

RIYL: Kate Bush (with lasers!) at the Planetarium; unicorns; Björk, before she started dating Matthew Barney

Related Reading:

• I WAS THERE: Bat For Lashes’ Bowery Ballroom Show Makes Us Believe In a World Without Björk
• BUY IT: Bat For Lashes
• PEEP SHOW: Johan Renck Reveals All About Bat For Lashes’ “Karate Kid”-Cribbing “Daniel” Video

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The Artist/Album: Bear In Heaven, Beast Rest Forth Mouth (Hometapes)

The Vibe: A 3-D album for the post-Avatar age.

RIYL: Genesis’ Peter Gabriel era; prog-rock suites; surround sound

Related Reading:

• A QUICK TALK WITH BEAR IN HEAVEN ABOUT … Stealing Sarah Palin Fans, Confusing Charlie Gibson, and Being a Proud Southerner Without Resorting to Lynyrd Skynyrd References

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The Artist/Album: Cold Cave, Cremations (Hospital Productions)

The Vibe: The beginning of a beautifully-damaged relationship.

RIYL: Leather-bound poetry/philosophy books; rough sex; the real dark shit

Related Reading:

• ALL OUT OF LOVE: ST006 Cover Story
• LONG PLAYER OF THE DAY: Cold Cave

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The Artist/Album: Desire, II (Italians Do It Better)

The Vibe: A moonlit, manic depressive foil to Glass Candy, the fulltime gig of producer/multi-instrumentalist Johnny Jewel.

RIYL: French Canadians with a story to tell; the dark side of the disco ball; driving until the sun comes up

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The Artist/Album: The Flaming Lips, Embryonic (Warner Bros.)

The Vibe: Art-rock godfathers uncover secret acid stash, gobble every…last…tab right in front of Karen O and MGMT.

RIYL: Kraut-rock crib sheets; double LPs worth their weight in vinyl; Flaming Lips songs that don’t need distractions like fake blood and man-sized plastic bubbles

Related Reading:

• THE S/T INTERVIEW: Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips
• S/T Survived … The Front Row of a ‘Christmas On Mars’ Screening
• LIB SERVICE: The Flaming Lips

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The Artist/Album: Florence and the Machine, Lungs (Island)

The Vibe: Speaking of Kate Bush…

RIYL: Getting smacked by scorned women; Lilith Fair with a Lollapalooza ‘94 mentality; the NME getting things right for once

Related Reading:

• SEALED WITH A FIST: ST004 Cover Story

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The Artist/Album: Girls, Album (True Panther/Matador)

The Vibe: Literal love-songs and hang-out anthems from the year’s most fascinating cult-reared songwriter.

RIYL: Parachuting your mom’s Wellbutrin; Soul Asylum’s “Runway Train”; the idea of Marc Bolan covering This Year’s Model

RELATED READING:

• PARENTAL ADVISORY: S/T Lets Mom and Dad Review New Music by Islands, Ducktails, Girls, Japandroids, The Drums and YACHT

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The Artist/Album: HEALTH, Get Color (Lovepump United)

The Vibe: Mind-crumbling aggression delivered with a destroy/build/destroy pathos.

RIYL: Trent Reznor’s co-sign; angst with balls; self-titled cover stories

Related Reading:

• THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: ST005 Cover Story
• PARENTAL ADVISORY: S/T Lets Mom and Dad Review New Music By St. Vincent, Phoenix and HEALTH

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The Artist/Album: Hell, Teufelswerk (International Deejay Gigolo)

The Vibe: A day/night diptych saluting Germany’s kosmiche and techno legacies.

RIYL: Peter Kruder productions; gratuitous Diddy banter; actin’ slutty for party photographers

Related Reading:

• THE S/T INTERVIEW: DJ Hell

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The Artist/Album: The Juan Maclean, The Future Will Come (DFA)

The Vibe: New York’s finest dance label breeds its very own shiny-skinned Human League.

RIYL: Glow-stick necklaces; sweating through your jeans; the impeccable, propulsive kitwork of the late Jerry Fuchs

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The Artist/Album: Kylesa, Static Tensions (Prosthetic)

The Vibe: Crust punks, metalheads and hipsters call a truce in the name of one killer album, then proceed to punch one another in the face because they simply can’t help it.

RIYL: Hydra-headed drummers; psychedelic sludge; metal that could only come from below the Mason-Dixon Line 

Related Reading:

• FREE ASSOCIATION: Kylesa Shares the Stories Behind Our Favorite Metal Album of the Year
• FLOOR PUNCH: The View From the Pit of Kylesa’s First Basement Show in Forever
• BUY IT: Kylesa

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The Artist/Album: Le Loup, Family (Hardly Art)

The Vibe: Animal Collective before dad started blasting Merriweather Pavilion in his Ford pickup.

RIYL: Hippies who leave the patchouli at home; weekend getaways; taking a hit of this

Related Reading:

• RECORDING UNDER THE INFLUENCE: Le Loup

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The Artist/Album: Mastodon, Crack the Skye (Reprise)

The Vibe: Mainstream metal’s freakiest band learns how to sing, loses their mind down a bottomless rabbit hole.

RIYL: Rasputin references; maimed melodies; Jim Beam and Jameson

Relating Reading:

• 1MM: Mastodon Lose Us At Hello, But Hey, At Least Their Visuals Are Bad Ass
• FORGET THE ALBUM: Mastodon Ponders the Legacy of Edible Underwear and Furry Handcuffs, Serenades Us With Journey

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The Artist/Album: Memory Tapes, Seek Magic (Acephadale)

The Vibe: A reason to believe in all that ‘chillwave’ nonsense.

RIYL: Night lights; ecstatic sunshine; to move it, move it

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The Artist/Album: Oneohtrix Point Never, Rifts (No Fun Productions)

The Vibe: A long day’s journey into night.

RIYL: Kubrick; pawn shop synths; flashbacks to your sixth grade science class

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The Artist/Album: Passion Pit, Manners (Frenchkiss/Columbia)

The Vibe: Twee as fuck.

RIYL: Gossip Girl reruns; pajama parties; frontmen who insist on singing falsetto

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The Artist/Album: Sunn O))), Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord)

The Vibe: The first truly-listenable LP from those guys in the robes.

RIYL: Black hole suns; Merlot-pounding druids; watching ‘critics’ suddenly care about ‘drone-metal’

Related Reading:

• JUST A LITTLE PATIENCE: The Sunn O))) Interview
• S/T Survived … Smoke Machines, Laser Claws, A Howling Hungarian and 90 Minutes of Relentless Riffage at Sunn O)))’s Masonic Temple Show
• FREE ASSOCIATION: Sunn O)))

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The Artist/Album: Wild Beasts, Two Dancers (Domino)

The Vibe: ‘Art rock’ that’s so much more than that.

RIYL: Acquired tastes; threatening one’s masculinity; Rimbaud

Instead of going on and on about our top picks of 2009 and the past 10 years—we’ll do that in the coming week—self-titled asked some of our favorite ‘09 artists to share their favorite records. The following post is brought to you by Type Records founder/dark ambient don Xela and the ultra-modern R&B of The Dream…

The Dream, Love vs. Money (Def Jam)

This might seem like an odd choice for my number one record of the year, but there’s really nothing else I could give the top spot to. Love vs. Money is the sophomore full-length from Terius Nash and his production partner Christopher “Tricky” Stewart. It makes up half of the one-two punch the duo smacked us with in ‘09, along with Electrik Red’s How To Be A Lady Vol.1.

Nash might be best known for his production credits on Rihanna’s hipster hit “Umbrella” and Beyoncé’s ass-shakin’ “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It),” but Love vs. Money shows he’s got far more beneath the hood than just a few measly hit singles. What we have here is an album in the old sense of the word—a record with a strong narrative, an enviable flow and more than just a handful of killer tracks. The first time I listened, I wasn’t totally convinced. “Sweat It Out” was a clear standout that humorously features Nash telling his anonymous booty-call she’s gonna need to call her beautician (Laetitia, FYI) because her hair “is gonna need fixin’” after their upcoming night of passion, but the rest, for the most part, left me cold. Second, third, umpteenth plays dug almost every song into my brain, however, for better or for worse (they always pop up at the worst times): the neon pop sleaze of “Rockin’ That Shit,” the pumpin’ MJ tribute “Walkin’ On The Moon,” or the R. Kelly-lite R&B of “Put It Down.” Nash and Stewart’s singular production style—buzzing synthesisers with bouncing, over-compressed beats and sickly-smooth vocals—felt perfectly matched with Nash’s sly, incredibly memorable punchlines; they arrived on an R&B album that’s near perfect. — John Twell

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RELATED READING:

• WOLVES IN THE BELFRY: Xela Digs Spiders, Bugs and Freaking Us the F*ck Out

FURTHER LISTENING/VIEWING:

[Photo by Andrew Parks]

Instead of going on and on about our top picks of 2009 and the past 10 years—we’ll do that in the coming week—self-titled asked some of our favorite ‘09 artists to share their favorite records. The following post is brought to you by Pelican and the controlled chaos of Sweet Cobra…

Sweet Cobra, Bottom Feeder EP (Seventh Rule Recordings)
Sadly, 2009 will most likely go down as the year of death. It seems like a week didn’t pass without a news story detailing the demise of one public figure or another, from the cult underground (Jack Rose) to the extreme mainstream (Michael Jackson). Without a doubt, the death that affected me deeply was that of local [Chicago] musician and fellow riff-slinger Matthew Arluck of the woefully underrated Chicago outfit Sweet Cobra. Succumbing to a long battle with cancer at the age of 39, Mat stayed positive until the end and continued recording and playing with his many bands as long as he could. We are fortunate, then, that Mat contributed to two final Sweet Cobra recordings before his passing: this year’s Bottom Feeder EP and a forthcoming full-length.

Comprised of three songs recorded for 2007’s Forever LP—but deemed to not fit the vibe of that release—Bottom Feeder’s material gathered dust until Seventh Rule Recordings urged the band to release them as a limited three-song 12” this past fall. The music showcases the group’s punchy, crusty hybrid of metal, hardcore and noise rock, while bassist/vocalist Botchy Vasquez’s tortured cries paint a picture of deep emotional turmoil. The band is propelled with a bent toward maximum urgency by Jason Gagovski’s relentless drumming, tirelessly shifting tempos as the songs veer in unpredictable directions, somehow never sacrificing the strong groove that is their anchor. The real backbone of these songs, however, is the guitar work of Arluck and fellow guitarist Robert Ludlam, who steer the EP through its multiple movements, harnessing riffs that are intoxicatingly aggressive while retaining a melodic underpinning that ties the work together.

Greg Norman’s paint peeling production strips everything inessential, leaving the listener with the sense that they could be in the room with the band themselves. “Toe Cutter” is a blistering hardcore marathon that melts in its final moments into midtempo pummeler “Holster Bone”, which willfully confuses with its myriad of passages that seem never to repeat. Both songs are catchy in their own right, but by far the winner here (and one of my favorite songs of the year, which warranted this release as my pick) is the anthemic, barnstorming title track. Opening with a disembodied drumbeat that rolls over into a ridiculously down-tuned melodic verse, the groove is immediate and subsuming. Arluck and Ludlam bounce melodic figures back and forth as Gagovski finds every opportunity to flip the beat backwards and forwards, with an intensity that seems to increase by the bar. Following a mathy noiserock break, the beat opens up into a wide dénouement, as Vasquez repeats “and then the rain came down to kill us all / all we could do is watch it fall,” an aching reminder that fate is sometimes stronger than our determination to resist it. — Trevor de Brauw

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RELATED READING:

• Mat Arluck, RIP
• A QUICK TALK WITH PELICAN ABOUT … ‘Grunge Gravy’, Drinking With Kim Thayil, And Working With Members of Isis, Sunn O))) and Earth

FURTHER LISTENING:

[Photo by Donn Ha]

Instead of going on and on about our top picks of 2009 and the past 10 years—we’ll do that in the coming week—self-titled asked some of our favorite ‘09 artists to share their favorite records. The following post is brought to you by Zelienople and the frostbitten folk of Mount Eerie…

Mount Eerie, Wind’s Poem (P.W. Elverum & Sun Ltd)
If you asked me for my “favorite album of the year” a week ago, I would’ve bristled at the idea of putting one above all others. However, for the past two weeks I’ve been immersed in an album that has floored me in a way that hasn’t happened in a long time: Mount Eerie, Wind’s Poem.

When I was younger, I was drawn to albums that I could relate to on a very personal level—music that seemed to finish my thoughts, shared my observations…in short, music as a friend. As I got older and my tastes expanded, it became less important for me to have a subjective connection with music. Maybe I’m too jaded, or maybe there are few rock records that I can relate to now, but Phil Elverum’s naturalistic pantheism approach to songwriting really struck a chord with me. It’s consumed me. I find myself flipping Wind’s Poem over and over, studying the artwork, following the lyric sheet, and humming the tunes throughout the day like a skinny pants-wearing fanboy.

I don’t know the backstory on this album or much about Elverum’s previous output, so I come to the record without the rubbish I recently read on the Web about its supposed “Norwegian mythology” concept. To my ears, this seems to be an album about a place. I immediately conjured up images of the mysterious, temperate rainforest landscape of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula without being aware that Elverum resides in some small town in that state. His ability to create a sense of place is what makes this album so successful. Elverum’s keen nature metaphors in both lyrics and (more incredibly) with the music can only come from someone with a deep respect for the natural world and a profound comprehension of his place within it.

This type of nature worship will undoubtedly make some eyes roll, but I’m a sucker for this kind of romanticism. Aesthetically, the blend of black metal and forest folk seems like it would be ridiculous but this dude makes it work without sounding like he’s stylistically hijacking one form or another. He doesn’t even really bother to synthesize the two sounds too much. The black metal songs—or parts of songs—stand on their own for the most part, which is a really nice extreme counterpart to the soft-focus folk songs. It’s like an album split between Xasthur and The Ivy Tree, but it’s clearly his own vision.

It’s perfect. Bummed we didn’t think of it first! — Mike Weis

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RELATED READING:

• NIGHT VISION: An exclusive photo essay with Mount Eerie

FURTHER LISTENING/VIEWING

[Photo by Sanchez]

Instead of going on and on about our top picks of 2009 and the past 10 years—we’ll do that next week—self-titled asked some of our favorite ‘09 artists to share their favorite records. This particular post is brought to you by Tim Hecker and a lingering Long Player of the Day entry, Ben Frost…

Ben Frost, By the Throat (Bedroom Community)
Listening to “Híbakúsja”—one of the album’s major pieces—while driving south in a nighttime rainstorm provided a sublime moment recently for me. Having a rental car means you can push its sound system beyond the healthy zone. It was a state of beauty wrapped in threat, but almost too much while driving.

By the Throat performs the promise of its title, but also is a lot more than that—its a set of a pieces that cycle off a main motif which bleed into a variety of states of mind. It does what I wish music would do more often, providing a state of estrangement in its uncanny familiarity. Is it ‘metal’ music, electronic music, or a saturated form of 19th century percussive stringed music? The answer doesn’t really matter, more that it doesn’t fit comfortably anywhere. It seems more important as an exercise of the studio as an instrument of composition, a wonderful work of arranged abstraction masquerading as neo-classical metal electronic music! — Tim Hecker

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RELATED READING:

• DISCO: Tim Hecker Tells the Stories Behind His Back Catalog
• LONG PLAYER OF THE DAY: Ben Frost, By the Throat (Bedroom Community)
• 1MM: Photos of Bora Yoon and Ben Frost Live @ Church of the Ascension

FURTHER LISTENING:

[Photo by Sarah Meadows]

Instead of going on and on about our top picks of 2009 and the past 10 years—we’ll do that later—self-titled asked some of our favorite ‘09 artists to share their favorite records. This particular post is brought to you by White Rainbow and the unstoppable space-age soundscapes of Dam-Funk…

Dam-Funk, Toeachizown (Stones Throw)
This record—and Dam-Funk in general—hit me HARD this year. For the past 12 months or so, I’ve mostly listened to hip-hop instrumental compilations (like the Coast2Coast series), checking out different sampler-mangling techniques and ideas on how to make a track bounce. That, and I got into the whole neo-digital-cumbia thing that people like DJ Lengua and the Zizek crew were laying down…and a lot of early ’80s new-age synth music.

Then Dam-Funk came into my life and pushed all of that shit aside, with his tight-ass DMX hand claps, gangster-smooth boogie funk synth squiggles, and some soulful, echo-y vocals in the background. Goddamn! That shit hits it where it needs to be! Is that some FM string shit? Some Bernie Worrell basslines? All of his synth shit is on POINT, too, taking me back to when my dad had all sorts of synths around our garage studio—ready to get as prog-fusion as he wanted, while more often playing in a wedding band, doing covers of the Cars ballad “Drive” with the drummer on some Roland drum pads to boot. I can still remember the feeling of all those spring action mod and pitch wheels.

Dam-Funk takes me back to the California of my youth, with everyone bumping Too $hort and Dre and Nate Dogg in their rides. Meanwhile, I was plugging my dad’s Micromoog into a space echo and a 4-track, hitting play on the Dr. Rhythm [drum machine] and getting lost in a world of sound. Thanks for bringing me home, Dam. — Adam Forkner

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RELATED READING:

• MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION: Dam-Funk’s Top Five Essential Funk LPs (In No Particular Order)
• TEST PRESSING: White Rainbow Lulls Us Into a Deep, Deep Sleep With an Exclusive Set From Last Year’s Halleluwah Festival

FURTHER LISTENING/VIEWING: