#6 Holler, Wild Rose!

When I asked them what their name meant, I didn’t really get a straight answer. They told me it was the name of the winter sun rising behind Manhattan, the way warm sunlight strikes a windshield to rest on your cheeks, the way dried salt and rainwater mix to throw a pattern of shadows across your face; that it was both a declaration of joy and an emphatic imperative to the listener. Fair enough

It’s also the title of the song which they feel defined their musical identity. I like it because it’s such a wonderful way to greet anyone, really, especially if we were all inside an old movie. There’s another band with a similar name: Hello, Blue Roses, but I suppose the tone there has a little less swagger. mp3

#5 Salt & Samovar

The world of stories and warmth I associate with the word “samovar” is best alluded to in the Russian animation Yozhik v Tumane, in which our little hedgehog in the fog is on his way to meet his bear friend for a little bit of tea and stargazing (pictured above). It seems the band had a similar idea: “Our name was inspired by the rolling tides of New England, by the salt that is in the air and in the way of life there. We imagine a family gathered around a hot stove brewing tea and telling stories, stories that are like music whistling up the trunk of the enormous family tree out back.”

They’re playing an acoustic set at Zebulon on Jan 23, and then a regular show at Public Assembly Hall on the 29th. mp3

#4 French Horn Rebellion

There’re several stories behind this band name, but eventually they’re all one. Robert Perlick Molinari, who majored in French Horn, told me, “What they say is, ‘You just have to be true to yourself and have fun!’ You know, ‘Don’t let the post-Holden world get you down’ and that’s kind of what we did, because as a French Horn player, I like creating hot beats as well as playing horn.”At the same time, he says, when his horn teachers were starting out, there were a lot of opportunities for live musicians, such as playing on TV spots, film scores, and other orchestras. But now that most things are replaced by computers, one person is able to create a full symphony of sounds: “So, sadly, the French Horn player is forced to make exactly what he hates… which creates questions in my own mind as to why we’re doing what we’re doing… a lot of our lyrics are about us playing French Horn.” They do, however, bust out a French Horn, freestyle, at their live shows, and perhaps you’ll catch some of this when they play next: Jan 17 at the Delancey with Team Robespierre & Ninjasonik. mp3

#3 Fleet Foxes

Though there’s been no shortage of bands evoking wintry woods, I love the sound of these two words, “fleet” and “foxes”, and the flurry of nimble motion packed within, like you could almost hear the rustle of the leaves, even. It’s a two-word poem, really, and as an adjective “fleet” is just an awesome word. According to this article in the Independent their previous name was “Pineapple”–pretty horrendous for a band name–which they dropped after another band with the same name objected. Robin Pecknold says he settled on “Fleet Foxes” because it was “evocative of some weird English activity like fox hunting”. mp3

#2 Pattern Is Movement

Here it is, a profound truth and a succulent bite of intellect strung along three words. A three-word poem!, and perhaps that’s illustrative of the word-punch that was involved in the making of the longer poem this name comes from, T.S. Eliot’s  ‘Burnt Norton‘:

The detail of the pattern is movement,
As in the figure of the ten stairs.

It’s a nice fit for the band’s dynamic sound, too. Pattern Is Movement is playing the Bellhouse on Jan 23rd, with Ponytail and These are Powers. mp3

#1 The Builders and the Butchers

I like this name more than others in the list because it’s very true to the band’s music, so it seems like a significant fragment of the whole story rather than a mere afterthought. But really, I can’t resist the proletarian might to it: the builders and the butchers, the givers of our towns, the rocks of our civilization, the dirty callused hands, and so on. According to singer Ryan Sollee, they had a list of band name options, and this one was the one nobody hated. I asked him if it was taken from anything, but it seems it wasn’t, which is probably why it feels like an extension of their music.

They were previously known as the Funeral Band, and they walked around playing unannounced shows around Portland wherever there were crowds. Catch them at Bowery Ballroom on Feb 6; they’re really fun to see live–they’ve got the spirit. mp3

Websites: Holler, Wild Rose!, Salt & Samovar, French Horn Rebellion, Fleet Foxes, Pattern Is Movement, The Builders and the Butchers

I generally find it difficult to wholeheartedly love music videos: in the given format, the number of things you can do is ultimately quite limited, and there is an overwhelming tendency to do the same things over and over again, out of which some that I’m wary of are: linear stories, a literal interpretation of the lyrics, a typical ending where something explosive happens and we revel in the band’s performance, dream-like fluidity where random otherworldly things happen, and an overemphasis on tricks and effects. These tendencies aren’t always bad by nature, but they do seem to make awesomeness especially hard in music videos.

The videos I usually like are the ones where the overall impression of what you see is aligned with the overall impression of what you hear. A bad video to a song is like a bad choice of words that undermines a thought, whereas a good one brings your attention to the essential qualities of the music it was made for? My own preference seems to be for the people-oriented leaning towards simplicity:

#8. The Kills – “Black Balloon“. Directed by Kenneth Cappello.

Awesome edits. A nice rock and roll feel to it. I’m not crazy about the vampire plot, but that blood-soaked mic looks cool.

#7. A.R.E. Weapons – “F What You Like“. Directed by Austin Peters.

Old school in a Beastie Boys kind of way. Thugs in leather jackets roaming Chinatown and rooftops. Brain F. McPeck makes badass faces. The second half is totally random. I love the guy in the end.

#6. Cool Fun – “What You Do”. Directed by Unitone Productions

Pretty low-fi, but the moves are irresistible. A great song and a whole lot of other indiscernible charms.

#5. Beyonce – “Single Ladies”. Directed by Jake Nava

Have you seen these moves? They’re a miracle! I’d watch this a hundred times. The understated change of lights, sometimes washing the bare set to a white, and sometimes to a glow of a shadow, is a little bit of genius. All the minimalist choices are solid: the clothes that give the movements clarity; the number of dancers; the choice of color and camera movements.

#4. Yacht – “Summer Song“. Directed by Judah Switzer

As far as Yacht goes, this exceeds my expectations; and I love the modesty. Great music-video-actors, for a change.

#3. Parenthetical Girls – “A Song for Elie Greenwich“. Directed by Judah Switzer.

Another one by Judah Switzer. Kind of a portrait in motion, and what handsome-looking and handsomely-moving subjects. I love the shots and the tones, and, overall, the restraaaain.

#2. White Denim – “Shake Shake Shake“. Directed by Tom Haines.

Tom Haines makes good videos in general, but this one is exceptional. Like a really good movie about the English suburbs. I want to live in it!

#1. Fleet Foxes – “He Doesn’t Know Why“. Directed by Sean Pecknold

A previously-declared favorite music video of the year. This one’s pretty much perfect. Everything you see pays homage to everything you hear. There’s no rush to tell a fantastic story, the song is the story. I love Sean Pecknold.

20 “Run to Your Grave” by The Mae-Shi

A song to play really loud and jump to, whenever one feels the need to be an ecstatic, aimless punk, which one should feel often, I guess. Taken from Hlllyh.

19. “Oceanic” by Imaad Wasif

When Imaad Wasif played with his band at Cake Shop, the loud treatment of his songs made his delicate voice gasp for air under the weight of all that noise. Then there was a rare moment when everything was quiet and he slowly pulled his voice away from the microphone, and those few seconds had the ache of a dagger through the heart. “Oceanic” is a song where you can hear some of that; a voice that must hurl itself towards everything that will ruin it so that it can resurface all alive and resilient.

18. “Klara” by Ólöf Arnalds

The only non-English song in the list, and this one’s in Icelandic. It reminds me of clothes hung to dry, blowing through the wind, and clouds chasing in over a blue hill. Blue! Whispers of accordion from somewhere not too far.

17. “I Can’t Tell in His Eyes” by Wildbirds & Peacedrums

Mariam Wallentin prefers a highly stylized approach to singing, one that makes her sound primal and aggressive. Sometimes it sounds overworked, but most times it just sounds pretty damn impressive. This song, however, is an unusual slip where she just sings, without a cloak or a mask of any sort. Filled with scenic evocations of the everyday, it’s pretty colorful for a break-up song. Then there’s this killer: “She is the country / That deeply betrayed him / So now he’s moving to Spain / Now he’s packing his things / All of his belongings / And I can’t tell in his eyes / If he’s gonna cry or if he’s gonna fight”. Taken from Heartcore.

16. “Fools” by The Dodos

Rhythm drives The Dodos. The boyish melodies serve to hold the the drums from running too far; the words are a vessel for rhymes; and the consonants are the necessary evil to vowels. “Fools” is a good mix of these things.

15. “Bleed Blood” by City Center

What it feels like to swim under water and let yourself go. City Center’s Fred is a river that runs through Brooklyn.

14. “Dance Dance Dance” by Lykke Li

A song of sweetness, and hips; it reminds me of Vanessa Paradis. Taken from Youth Novel.

13. “The Waves” by Princeton

“The Waves” is an elaborate work of production by Princeton. It’s somewhat silly, with all its tropical inclinations; somewhat dorky, with all its literary references; but all the while endearing; and there’re quite a few places to visit here in 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Taken from their four-song EP, Bloomsbury.

12. “The Nights Pt. 1” by The Builders and the Butchers

I was lucky I got to this band at a tiny dive bar in Connecticut filled with crazed fans who knew all of the songs. Two drummers packed into the corner and faces red and wet with sweat. This is the first song off their self-titled album, a world where you must grow beards, wear big black hats, carry shovels everywhere you go, and sing loudly over beer all the freaking time. Even if you’re a woman. Plus, what an awesome band name, and so filled with character.

11. “Rapture (Sweet Rapture)” by AA Bondy

Here’s how it begins: “I don’t wanna talk about Jesus / I just wanna see his face / The trees are swinging like hanging men /And I just wanna see his face”. Then it gets better; it’s as if the shadows give over to the sun, still water begins to run, and the day breaks as the chorus hits in a swooping lift: “Rapture, sweet rapture / Won’t you lay your hands on me”. But wait, it gets better still: “Mary take that silver dagger / Put it through my throat”. Sung in that amazing voice of AA Bondy’s and taken from that amazing album, American Hearts.

10. “One Cotton Shot Short” by Matt Jones

These verses smell like waffles and they melt in your mouth. It’s taken from The Black Path, which I don’t think is out yet. I stole it from Jesse Elliott’s Mixmas.

9. “More Than Right” by Callers

I’ve been hanging on to this song ever since I heard it back in the summer, though I know little about this Brooklyn band… what a great voice, what a drunkenly staggering pace, and what a night these lovers must have whisked through. They’re playing at Union Pool tonight, the 19th.

8. “The Butcher” by Final Fantasy

Owen Pallett writes a song that sounds like rainbows and butterflies, waterfalls and waves, despite a title that suggests otherwise. Taken from Spectrum, 14th Century, one of the two EPs he released this year.

7. “Trouble No More” by Dark Dark Dark

“I’ll take these rosy cheeks of mine / And be headed south”

6. “Mister Jung Stuffed” by Man Man

A song that captures everything Man Man. Incredible musicians, enthusiastic and consistent theatrics; goofballs, hooligans, drunkards. It opens this year’s Rabbit Habits.

5. “Horn Song” by Suckers

This tune here? A soundtrack for your trip to the gate where angels drink wine, play cards and call each other whores; and you’ll be the most beautiful person when you get there.

4. “Original Bones” by Cotton Jones

“The last time I tried to be so original / I broke all my original bones”

3. “Drops in the River” by Fleet Foxes

“White Winter Hymnal” was the first song I heard and loved from these here Fleet Foxes (like everyone else), but “Drops in the River” was the one I really clung to; it’s got all the goodness of White Winter, but it travels further. I think of them as the same person at different ages, I don’t know which one’s older. This one’s the younger, probably.

There was an unbelievable overabundance of overrated crap this year (Cut Copy – what?), as was there a lot of great music that not everyone discovered and loved as deserved. Then they’re all these year-end lists that are themselves the most overrated act of every freaking year. But, I love Fleet Foxes, and the amount of love and hate that’s been directed towards them, or perhaps the obscene extent of fame they seem to have found (but fame is a ridiculously nonsensical by nature), has ultimately nothing at all to do with my own enjoyment of their songs. They use the language of music with care, compassion and devotion, they seem to understand it really well, and this language, which unleashes its power over your heart than it does your brain, is a funny thing. Right? While it’s great to be articulate about how you feel about music (despite everything, the writers at Pitchfork are really good), it’s terrible to be unable to enjoy music with your heart. I don’t understand why it matters so much that the guy from Fleet Foxes sounds a little like the guy from My Morning Jacket… I really believe in Robin Pecknold. I think he’s good for us. Us humans.

2. “The Gardener” by The Tallest Man on Earth

Heart breaker of a song, everything about it will stab you.

1. “A Day to Float the Bahnar Boat” by These United States

When I first heard this song, my blood level dropped to an all-time low. About 30 seconds in I was having an existential awakening, thinking, “What am I going to do with my life?“, and after I’d recovered, “What were they thinking?” When I made other people listen to it they didn’t quite freak out like I had, which kind of reaffirms my belief that taste is all physics. Everything to do with heart rate and blood levels and how the molecules of the songs fit into the molecules of you. For me, this is one of the most perfect songs ever: in its few words and the compassionate melodies that accompany them, it contains not one but several, unending life cycles, and there’s nothing quite as thrilling as a life. Nothing quite so filled with an exploding spectrum of emotions like hope, triumph, loss, disappointment, sadness, happiness, and so on, all of which I felt when I listened to it the first time.

It was recorded as a free track for Peppermill’s 52 weeks project, for the Spring set in particular. From what I understand, Jesse Elliott took parts from this article in the Washington Post–which was published in the week the band had been assigned by Peppermill–and rearranged them into lyrics. They’ve credited the article’s author Joshua Zumbrun for the lyrics, but that is a lie, essentially. The words and phrases may have been lifted, but the effect they have in the song owes entirely to what parts were picked, and how they were edited and rearranged. Then there’s Tom Hnatow with his haunting glockenspiel and piano…
]]> http://hoovesontheturf.com/200812/best-songs-2008/feed 7 http://hoovesontheturf.com/200812/my-own-gummy-winners http://hoovesontheturf.com/200812/my-own-gummy-winners#comments Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:12:22 +0000 sarahana http://hoovesontheturf.com/?p=2119 Stereogum released its list of this year’s Gummy Award winners yesterday, as voted for by the website’s readers. Though this is not my ultimate “Best of 2008″ list, here’re my votes.

Best Album
These United States – Crimes
There’re so many things I have to say about this album, especially in the context of what has been said about it already, by others, but for now—as this post isn’t my ultimate “Best of 2008″ post, and it’s past 2AM as I write this—I’ll just say that the only I reason I’d pick this one over A Picture of the Three of Us at the Gate to the Garden of Eden, which they released in March of the same year, is that I have much faith in the current incarnation of the band, and Crimes is much more reflective of that incarnation; but other than that, I love both records equally. My choice of favorite song from Crimes keeps changing; presently it’s “West Won”, which is a really strong opener—it may not have hooks, or even melodies that care for memorability, but it’s so cinematic in its scope, and so filled with a rousing sense of premonitions, I find it totally gripping. Download “West Won“

Best Music Video
Fleet Foxes – “He Doesn’t Know Why“
My attachment to this video is pretty non-cerebral. That barn looks like I’d want to sleep there, and I love the colors used. I like that it’s a complete non-event: a non-linear bubbling-up of nothing at all. At first I thought I was indifferent to the goats, but actually, no, I love the goats; their shape, and in that number, with the tone and texture of their skin; these shapes, moving as they do, hold everything together… it helps that I love the song.

Best Live Act
These United States
To be precise, These United States at Union Hall on September 30. Judging a band’s authenticity is a tricky business, and, for the most part, probably futile, but what I like about watching this band live is that your experience of music as channeled through them feels like the real thing, whether or not you ultimately believe it to be the real thing—I do. I love seeing them in small spaces.

Indie Rock Crushes, Boy
Jesse Elliott of These United States, obviously.

Indie Rock Crushes, Girl
Lisa Molinaro of Talkdemonic. She’s badass. Nona Marie of Dark Dark Dark is a very close second. She’s also badass.

Most Overrated Act
Bon Iver
There’re so many, aren’t they? Picking between MGMT and Vampire Weekend, or Coldplay and M83 would be kind of pointless, so my sad vote is Bon Iver. I think they’re good, but the general consensus on just how good seems way more favorable than my own judgment would have it.

Best Music Blog
La Blogotheque

Best TV Show
I honestly don’t know. I watched Project Runway but that was pretty bad. I’m gonna pick MSNBC election coverage just because I was hooked to it like a maniac.

Best Movie
Love Songs
Even though this movie was affecting and lovable at first viewing, the weight of it sunk in slowly over time. The songs are silly, but they set the right tone, and the tone is everything? A close second is The Band’s Visit.

Best Web Video
I haven’t even watched more than half the choices they listed, but Lil Bill O’ Reilly was pretty special.

Though the album was recorded in a Minneapolis house (in the middle of a “frigid winter”), it will transport you to author Juan Rolfo’s village of the living dead. It’s not the mere mention of ghosts, bones and fermenting bodies that warrant such an evocation, or even the idea that perhaps some stories can only be told by the dead or what the dead have left behind—the empty bed of the dying, for example. It’s all of that, plus the deep hues of darkness the band manages to be playful with. In creating a dynamic texture that contains such a world, producer Robert Skoro has done a marvelous job. More telling, however, is the quote by Anaïs Nin that prefaces the band’s current bio: “People living deeply have no fear of death”.

Download “Colors” | One thing I can’t help noting is that the album opens with “Ashes”, which has an abrupt beginning that sounds like the narrative is already in the thick of things. “Dig a Grave”, one of my favorites on the record, is a slower-paced song I suspect to somehow hold a key to all others, and one that would’ve made a fantastic prologue of a sort. “Colors”, which immediately precedes “Dig a Grave”, works as a great opener, too. This is nitpicking, however; the album came out yesterday, and is easily one of the year’s bests.

Dark Dark Dark is playing two New York shows this December: The Cake Shop on the 16th, and Union Pool on the 19th. Two more songs from the album, “Trouble No More” and “A Spell for Letting Go”, can be heard in the Secret Garden videos we shot with the band.

Download “March Movement” | When talking about a beautiful, wordless album like Talkdemonic’s Eyes at Half Mast, I’m sure the temptation to decode the narrative will come as irresistible to many. You could start with the album’s mysterious title, though any dimwit will realize quickly that the story here is not of weariness. If anything, the music exuberantly spins and spins from pretty much a single thematic source of inspiration without ever running thin. That leaves us with at least three other interpretations of the half-open eyes that adorn the title and the album artwork: the rushing of the mind and the awakening of the better part of it right before falling asleep; the blurriness of one’s vision and the unseeing of contours in favor of shapes; and the eyes that have yet to close before death.

The song titles are full of evocations, too: the opening track is called “Leaving Light”, and elsewhere scattered are bits of colors, like “Ending The Orange Glow”, “Black Wood Crimson”, “Dim Sky”, and “A Hundred Faces In The Neon Forest”. The truth is, however, that these titles aren’t clues to what follows as much as they are postscripts to the whole thing; they are a mere confirmation of the idea inherent in the songs, which is that the band celebrates in this record the richness of life that comes to its full being only from its biggest frailty: the fact of inevitable death that concludes it. The album’s press release mentions “a sense of loss and memory”, but you could really just toss a full range of emotions to the mix, everything that sweeps through all forms of successes and failures, and they would fit right in; which is to say, the record is not so much about a specific story as it is a story of all stories, a narrative of all narratives, and in that sense, very much cathartic–wrap any story in this music, and it’s sure to be better told.

It serves the album well that it’s without words (one less “contour”). Amongst the occasional occurrence of monosyllabic human voices, the record’s tone is chiefly set by Lisa Molinaro’s viola and cello. There is one song, “Dim Sky”, where their absence is accentuated by the play of digital sounds, which, elsewhere in the album, have been molded by mastermind Kevin O’Connor to sound quite natural amongst the warmth of the strings, the accents of the banjo, and earthiness of the drums. The term “electro” barely comes to mind.

The album came out today and Talkdemonic plays Mercury Lounge on Oct 11.