Top Indie Albums of 2009 (1-5)
5 smith westerns – smith westerns
Punk pop genius. This CD is what the Strokes, Hot Hot Heat and White Stripes wish they still could be. This disc is so under-produced, so raw it’s almost as though they just pressed a demo. The bass is WAY too low. The vocal tracks sound like they were recorded via a Telecaster pickup instead of a microphone. But I still cannot stop listening. These guys may not be the most innovative band ever and they certainly are not tailor-made for radio (phew), but their catchy hooks could get Bernard Sumner toe tapping. Be My Girl sounds like a rockabilly horror song. All it is missing is an old pipe organ. Seriously though, this is going to be some punk-rockers wedding song if it has not already been. The Glam Goddess has brilliant “woo-hoos” and the bells and stop-start guitar progressions on Dreams are beautifully executed. I swear the production sounds like they mashed everything into one track, but that’s part of the charm. One thing is certain: If you come away from listening to Girl In Love not truly believing that you’re the “girl in love” there is something wrong with you.
notable (assumed) influences: Buzzcocks, Johnny Cash, Joy Division, the Kinks, the Reverend Horton Heat, the Misfits, the Go Gos
notable tracks
4 phoenix – wolfgang amadeus phoenix
Pure. Delicious. Bubble gum pop. But not the kind that was created in expensive studios with soulless musicians. I imagine Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix being hatched after listening to countless hours of The Lemonheads, The Sneaker Pimps and Herbie Hancock while playing Katamari Damacy. The first three tracks are smoking hot. Lisztomania and 1901 are ultra-catchy dance tracks. Fences kicks the tempo down a notch and bleeds into a ballad-ish interlude: Love Like Sunset Parts I and II. The second half of the album is much like the first with gems like Lasso, Girlfriend (my favorite) and Armistice. There is not a hell of a lot of variation in the instruments and effects so some of the songs sound similar. It is a bit like they were playing with a formula and tweaking it as they went along. This time though it works very well and gives Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix a uniform yet unique sound.
notable (assumed) influences: I can’t put my finger on it for these guys. What do you think?
notable tracks
3 dinosaur jr – farm
Most of you were expecting this to be #1. I know. Farm is special. Farm is brilliant. The problem is that for as good as Farm is, it does not represent Dinosaur Jr’s best work and the top 2 do. Caveats aside, Farm is still spectacular. Kicking off Farm with “Pieces” was smart. It’s a pretty straight forward song. The lyrics and the changes over to the chorus make it interesting and replayable. The guitar work on this song alone makes every other guitarist on this list look like like they just started playing- and it’s not nearly the most impressive on Farm. “I Want You to Know” is typical J Mascis. A rock icon himself, his style reminds me of a more laid-back version of Eddie Vedder. He has the power to add raw emotion by barely showing any. The whiny guitars combined with the na-na-na-na-na-na on “Oceans in the Way” are like a delicious appetizer. “Plans” is where Farm serves up the main course. This is the first track where we get shades of classic Mascis from “The Wagon”, “Sure Not Over You” and “Start Choppin”. The track that initially drew me into Farm was “See You”. The song kicks off with an incredibly intricate high-end guitar solo before Mascis ever even says a word. The riffs on this track are the make it worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as some of their classics, but certainly not at the top of the list. “See You” is Farm’s second best track for my money. The strongest track – in fact – the best song I have heard all year is “I Don’t Want to Go There”. This is Dinosaur Jr at their best. The opening riff kicks your ass and reminds what that Dinosaur Jr are the kings of giant indie guitar. Mascis belts out the lyrics only to practically whisper “I’m Gone” in the chorus. The guitar work on this track (Fender Jazzmaster) gives me goosebumps. It redefines “epic” with a 4.5 minute guitar solo that not only ends the song, but deserves a nomination for the guitar solo hall of fame.
notable influences: Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, Nick Cave, The Birthday Party
notable tracks
2 neon indian – psychic chasms
I got my hands on leaked tracks from Psychic Chasms before it came out. They blew my mind. This is experimental, but where Smith Westerns and Animal Collective fall short, Neon Indian succeeds. The untamed brilliance is there, but there is some skill in production and there are stories with beginnings, middles and ends. Deadbeat Summer’s snap beats and warbly melodies combined with forced-after-10-packs-of-cigarettes vocals are a perfect combination. Laughing Gas sounds just like what I would bet a balloon full of nitrous feels like. This album is really hard to explain. “If I Knew I’d Tell You” sounds like a bunch of rubber bands and spaceships. “Should Have Taken Acid With You”’s lyrics are ridiculous and hilarious. “Should have taken acid with you. Take our clothes off in the swimming pool.” “Mind Drips” starts off like a Nintendo game and the “oooooohs” and background whatever-the-hell-that is like eating 6 candycane Joe Joe’s. The title track, “Psychic Chasms”, starts out with a sound like icicles dripping into a kettle drum. I don’t know how to explain what is happening here. Just listen for yourself. Buy the damn thing. Neon Indian’s debut is not only epic, it’s going to be a bitch to top.
notable influenceshousehold appliances, workshops, saws
notable tracks
1 grizzly bear – veckatimest
PURE GENIUS. Southern Point, Two Weeks, Fine For Now, Cheerleader, While You Wait for the Others. This is not pop, it’s Grizzly Bear. I guess they want to prove that music soothes the savage beast as there is nothing brutal about their precision on Veckatimest. It never comes close to trotting so do not expect to “rock out” with Veckatimest. You are on a slow ride through uncharted, yet gorgeously unfolding territory. Speaking of territory, Veckatimest is named for Veckatimest Island in Gosnold, MA.
notable influences: Edward Droste says he loves Liz Phair and Nine Inch Nails.
notable tracks (sorry no lala)
There you have it! My 2009 top 10 albums. I would like to apologize to the Pains of Being Pure at Heart for being left out of the consideration set. Although I know their album was highly acclaimed, I simply did not get my ears on it this year. If you liked this recap, please consider sharing it on Facebook, Twizzler and tattooing the URL over your eyebrows. Maybe just paint it really big on the side of your house or dormitory. That would be truly sophomoric and appreciated.
I have been into indie since 1989 and became a disciple of WOXY in 1991. If you were hiding under a rock or just want to compare your tastes with mine, I hope you enjoy this summary of what was truly one of the most amazing years for new indie music.
10 cymbals eat guitars – why there are mountains
If members of the Pixies smashed into (the) Pavement in an epic auto accident, the result would be Cymbals Eat Guitars. They may have also borrowed a bit of fellow Northeast band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s epic feel. They are not afraid to get raspy or use feedback. Their lyrics on this record are not nearly as intelligent as Stephen Malkmus or Frank Black’s, but that’s probably due to injuries sustained in the accident. That said, they are not afraid to spew forth raw passion. This is the Staten Island group’s first effort which is probably part of the reason why it sounds so raw.
notable influences: Pixies, Pavement, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
notable tracks
9 Passion Pit – Manners
Innovative electro-indiepop always has a way of finding its way into my playlist. These guys have Berklee School of Music ties and delicious hooks and dance beats. Expect to shake your booty when you listen to these Cambridge, MA based lads. Jimmy Somerville and Bronski Beat come to mind, but they list Blur, Radiohead, Flaming Lips, Incubus and Blink 182 as their influences which is surprising to me as it is so dance oriented. These guys think they are punks. That makes me chuckle.
notable influences: Jimmy Somerville? New Order? Blink 182
notable tracks
8 Yo La Tengo – Popular Songs
This album could have easily been called “Soundtrack for a Road Trip”. It is mostly easy going and filled with understated power that never truly is paid-off. This is part of the genius of the band as they always leave the listener wanting more. Popular Songs is the result of throwing The Beach Boys, Raveonettes, Belle and Sebastian and Sufjan Stevens into a blender. Luckily no one was hurt and we got the raw energy of “Here to Fall”, epic, open air back roads country feel of “By Two’s” and playfully delicious “If It’s True”. There is also a deliciously dissonant instrumental jam called “And the Glitter is Gone” that would make all but the Jesus and Mary Chain blush.
notable influences: Beach rock, Sufjan Stevens, Belle and Sebastian, the Jesus and Mary Chain
notable tracks
7 Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavillion
There are points of this record that are SO amazing and points that make me scratch my head. This is probably what brought them down to 7. I mean, Summertime Clothes has the most amazing crunchy drum beat and ethereal keyboards and the best chorus they could come up with was “I want to walk around with you.”
notable influences: hallucinogens?
notable tracks
6 Built to Spill – There is No Enemy
More of the same from Built to Spill, but that is a good thing. This album has a couple of tracks like “Hindsight” and “Pat” that jump out and grab you, tantalize you but they are merely warmups for the really good stuff. Good Ol’ Boredom has a delicious hook, thoughtful lyrics and simple sounds, but complex layers that make you want to come back and listen to it over and over. Speaking of which, Planting Seeds opens with some of the most ear-catching, chunky, indie guitar goodness I’ve heard this year. That said, the song’s so-called end leaves you thinking “what? really?” and you have to listen to it again to figure out if it really was the end or if it just faded out. The chorus on this track is an underachiever’s dream: “We can make it if we try, but if we don’t it’s gonna still be all right.” Things Fall Apart has an epic jam in the middle (including a trumpet) that seems to have been placed into the track reluctantly, yet it works. Even better though is the middle of “Life’s a Dream” which reminds you not only what a piece of garbage you are, it puts the exclamation point on it with addictively “simple” guitar discipline. By the way, the aforementioned two tracks could be mashed together beautifully by an aspiring re-mixer. The combination of blah vocals, understated guitars and overall “meh” attitude work brilliantly on There Is Not Enemy. I still have it in my heavy rotation.
notable influences: Pavement, Neil Young, Dinosaur Jr
notable tracks
<sarcasm>Shocker.</sarcasm>
Trent was a vocal advocate for spam controls in twitter. Twitter users know that twitter is not going to implement a big new feature like that in the near future. He announced back in June that he was leaving. He came back in July to announce his last shows and to talk to Dave Navarro. No “wave wave wave wave goodbye”. The @trent_reznor account is just gone. The @nineinchnails still persists though as he said it would.
Good to see he has not gone soft.
I grew up in Cleveland which meant that I was largely responsible for making my own fun. The collective population makes a great argument that there are worse places to live such as Somalia and Afghanistan. Cleveland thought it had a pretty decent music scene, but if you look back on the acts that were born and bred in Cleveland, you find Tracy Chapman, The O’Jays and Michael Stanley. Have you heard of the Michael Stanley Band? He’s basically the Bruce Springstein of Cleveland and Put-In-Bay. The local scene was pretty lame until 1989.
In 1989 music changed with the release of an album called Pretty Hate Machine. We got the vinyl in our high school radio station which was 100 watts of progressive rock power. We barely made it to the next town and had 10s of listeners, but the music was fantastic. The very first song I even spun was Knock Me Down by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The station was all indie and alt rock and when we got our hands on a new band called Nine Inch Nails, we were not really sure what to make of “them”. The station manager marked up the album with the songs we were allowed to play, Down In It, Sanctified and Head Like a Hole. She also put a little label that said “they’re from Cleveland” on the front to entice us and so that we would remind our listener that these “guys” were local. I played Down In It on my show and it caught me as something different, something I did not quite understand but I liked the sound.
The First Show
4/3/1990
NIN was known to play the Phantasy Nite Club, which was a small bar in Lakewood that I could not get into because it was an 18 and older club. I tried to sneak my way in to no avail. I would keep checking Scene magazine to try and figirue out it they would play someplace I could go, but they seemed to be regulars at the PNC so I gave up. About the same time, we got a glorious album called Deep into the station from a blonde haired goth legend named Peter Murphy. It was easily the most popular at the station. Peter Murphy was touring and the station manager got us onto the guest list. We were excited to go and hear Cuts You Up and the Line Between the Devil’s Teeth among others. We had no idea who was opening, but on the way to the show, we learned that it would be Nine Inch Nails.
The old Phantasy Theater was a decent sized venue. It could hold around 1000 people. It was general admission so we got right up close to get a good look at Reznor, who walked out onto the stage with Richard Patrick, who would later form the abominable Filter, on guitar and remix master Chris Vrenna on the drums. He did not look into the crowd. He looked right past us and the band launched into Terrible Lie. At this time I had not heard much of Pretty Hate Machine. I knew Down In It and Head Like a Hole, but I did not own the record and had no idea where to get the tape. There was not much chance to listen to it outside of my show so most of the material was new to me. This was literally the first time I ever heard Terrible Lie. My eyes got wide as the crowd moved together in a giant wave. This was just before people started violent moshing, so the pit was pretty tolerable. Trent had me at “Hey God”.
Deep Tour Set List
1. “Intro”
2. “Terrible Lie”
3. “Sin”
4. “Sanctified”
5. “That’s What I Get”
6. “Get Down, Make Love”
7. “Ringfinger”
8. “Down In It”
9. “Head Like A Hole”
The song literally burned itself into my mind as the crowd swayed and by the second verse, everyone was shouting TERRIBLE LIE with him. Richard Patrick was (presumably) so high, he was hardly aware of where he was. In between songs, Trent would yell and talk about what a piece of shit town Cleveland was. They played most of Pretty Hate Machine, save for Kinda I Want To which in the 8 or so times I have seen NIN, I have never seen performed live. Just as well. The remarkable thing about NIN was how their live experience was brilliantly different than the studio effort. I knew I would have to skip a few study halls and hang out in the radio station to go deeper. And speaking of Deep, Peter Murphy came out and gave us exactly what we expected from him. I mean he was remarkable, but I could not help but think that Reznor had rudely upstaged him.
Headliner
12/28/1990 and 1/29/1990
I decided that I needed to see NIN again after a solid couple of weeks of listening to the record incessantly. Luckily NIN decided to do another tour after Deep. I was supposed to see them Jesus and Mary Chain, but they cancelled for some reason. I learned every word of every track and got the station manager to add Sin to the rotation. They started to get a bigger following and outgrew the Phantasy Nite Club. I got tickets to see Trent and company at the Phantasy Theater again. This time they would headline a show that included Chemlab and Die Warzau. Die Warzau was another industrial act that I had recently found out about because I decided to find out if there were more bands like NIN out there. NIN was my gateway to Wax Trax acts like Ministry, Skinny Puppy and KMFDM.
Trent had met up with the boys from Ministry and the Revolting Cocks while recording Get Down Make Love, a B-Side on the Sin Single that Al “Hypo Luxa” Jourgensen produced. He brought the late, great cowboy Jeff Ward of Revolting Cocks, Lard and 1000 Homo DJs along to beat the skins. The stage was bigger and more technical. Ward sat in a giant cage- center stage. His bald head and cowboy hat poked out through the giant iron bars. Between songs Reznor remarked that we had no idea how to enjoy a show, that we were not at all destructive and that he was going to have to be the one to show us “pussies” how to do things right. He proceed to put his head in a noose on stage left (from the audience) and swing out while holding on to the rope to keep from strangling himself.
Sin Tour Set List
1. “Intro”
2. “Terrible Lie”
3. “Sin”
4. “Something I Can Never Have”
5. “Sanctified”
6. “That’s What I Get”
7. “Suck”
8. “The Only Time”
9. “Get Down, Make Love”
10. “Ringfinger”
11. “Down In It”
12. “Head Like A Hole”
After a wildly emotional version of Something I Can Never Have and a gripping and pulverizing rendition of Sanctified, Reznor pulled something out of his bag of tricks. The song started with a break beat a little like Terrible Lie and the opening lyrics were along the same theme, but what the fuck was this song? By the second verse the entire audience had picked up on the “HOW DOES IT FEEEEEEELLLL”.
It was not until I picked up the Pigface Gub CD that I realized that the song I heard was Suck. It took until 1992 when I bought Broken and discovered the secret mini-disc that I got the version I wanted. The Pigface version is OK, but it’s so understated and did not satisfy my hunger for the one I heard live. The violent onslaught of music and rage continued. Reznor continued to call us names and eventually started madly humping the keyboards, trying to knock them down with his junk and then threw mic stands at the cage. Ward didn’t even flinch.
Lollapalooza
July 8/5/1991
The festival scene kicked off with Perry Farrell’s Lollapalooza in 1991. With Jane’s Addiction, Rollins Band, Siouxsee & the Banshees, the Violent Femmes and Nine Inch Nails on the bill, there was no way I was going to miss the show. I scored pavilion seats through my rep with Sony Music, so I sold my lawn seats to some other fans. Now I had been reading about the tour in Alternative Press magazine. AP is one of the gems of new music. I got to know the editor, Mike Shea, a little bit through our radio station. He had a rave show on Thursday nights after my industrial show. I learned a lot from Mike. He had stuff none of us could touch, including the original version of Let’s Get Physical by the Revolting Cocks that they could not press because Olivia Newton-John did NOT approve. The revised lyrics version turned out to be a classic anyway. She could have been in great company with their cover of Rod Stewart’s Do Ya Think I’m Sexy. AP wrote that the Lollapalooza tour had not been kind to NIN. The initial shows were in Arizona and California. NIN was performing in the middle of the day in scorching heat and some of their loop tapes actually melted. They had a bunch of equipment problems and legend has it they were actually booed off stage in Tempe.
When it came time for them to take the stage, the initial notes sounded a lot like NIN’s calling card opening song, Terrible Lie, but it kept playing over and over with a broken beat. Trent took the stage to raucous cheers and launched into “I’m. Gonna smash myself to pieces. I’m. Gonna fuck myself up. I’m. sifting through the ashes. I. What have I become?” It was some kind of new intro to Terrible Lie that was full of anticipation, suspense and understated energy. “I FUCKED IT ALL AWAY. now i’m nothing
Wait. WHAT?
I had seen NIN 3 times. Trent never had anything nice to say about the birthplace of NIN. He always called us names and told us he hated us. I was amazed and I decided to do whatever it took to get from my pavilion seat to the pit. I had to see this up close.
Lollapalooza Set List
1. “Now I’m Nothing”
2. “Terrible Lie”
3. “Sin”
4. “Physical (You’re So)”
5. “The Only Time”
6. “Wish”
7. “Ringfinger”
8. “Get Down, Make Love”
9. “Down In It”
10. “Head Like A Hole”
Aside from throwing new songs into sets that we’ve never heard, including some that he never intended to record like Now I’m Nothing, another of the amazing things about NIN is Trent’s unstated philosophy on covering songs. If you take a look at the songs that he has covered, they are all songs that did not succeed the first time around. If they were homes, they would be fixer-uppers. They are songs that he saw the potential in. He then took them, gutted them and carefully reconstructed them in a new image, while still maintaining their structural integrity. Call it a restoration. Enter Physical (You’re So) by Adam and the Ants.
Trent Dives In
Another surprise was Wish, which would later be realeased on their 2nd effort, Broken. Can you believe this all happened before Broken? During Wish I stormed the pit and dove past security on top of the people and got passed to the middle- center stage. The pit was hot and even more intense than the pavilion, which was full of energy given the effort that Trent was putting into this show. Remember, it was the middle of the day and aside from a bunch of dry ice, it was all up to the band to get people charged. After Down In It, I took a second and looked around. Time seemed to slow down. There was a woman on a guy’s shoulders behind me. She had long, blonde hair and was really attractive. She was wearing a camouflage jacket and shorts, while generously showing everyone her round, ample breasts. I turned back to the stage when the band started Head Like a Hole. The pit went into full motion and the song exploded. People were being passed around and as they went into the finale, guitars droning, singing finished, Reznor did something I never expected. He dove into the crowd, right in front of me.
We Save His Ass
The pit started to collapse on top of him. He went fetal. I saw his face for a split second. He was smirking, but he also had a slight look of “Oh what the fuck have I done?”. People were tearing at his shirt and his shorts. People were climbing over other people to touch him. It was complete chaos. I looked at two other people, one to my left, one to my right. We nodded to one another and started throwing people off of him. I got a rush of adrenaline and realized that most of the people in the pit were high or wasted. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and I only have to throw a couple of elbows. We grabbed Trent and lifted him up over our heads and chucked him back on stage. He got up and ran off to thunderous applause. Needless to say, I did not give a fuck about Living Colour or Siouxsee & the Banshees after that performance.
Thanks Trent. Thanks for the shows I talked about. Thanks for all the others I saw afterwards and thanks- in advance- for the ones in NY that I WILL SCORE TICKETS FOR.
People complain about #FollowFriday because people just throw out a bunch of names without giving any reason to follow the people on the list. My solution has been to provide a reason or theme with each person I recommend. For instance,
#followfriday @agrahamwilcox <- Must follow for NBA fans
Today, Brad Ward decided to take it all up a notch.
The story begins at SXSW. SXSW is the conference that keeps on giving. In the past I have equated it to cramming a whole semester of college into 2 weeks. The people that you meet are the people you want to meet, the experiences that you share are meaningful both in the “classroom” and in the bars and social events.
On the night of the mashable party, Not only did I sing Ziggy Stardust with a live band, meet Seth Rogen and Joseph “Cobra Commander” Gordan-Levitt, I met Brad J. Ward.
I was heading to the bar to pick up my 4th (or so) and I was in queue to sing with the band. Well, the video tells the story
Did I think he was going to gank my charger? No. But my own phone was low on juice and I couldn’t hear the bartender. The band was RIGHT in front of us and Brad was looking to disappear. What good is a business card if I can’t charge my phone later? I decided to chill out about it, sing my song and have fun at the party instead of worrying about whether I would be connected later. Glad I did. Brad is an amazing person that I met at the conference and I am having a good time getting to know him better through twitter. Follow him!
Looking at my LinkedIn network of over 200 people, most people have been at more than one organization. If you take a random sample and interview you are bound to hear politically correct stories like
- I wanted more money.
- I felt under appreciated.
- I did not get along with my boss.
- I found a better opportunity.
Or you might find out that the person felt like they had their soul sucked out by Dementor kisses. Glassdoor.com is the place to air their filthy laundry about employment experiences anonymously. Registered users can review their previous position and talk about the benefits and gotchas of the employment experience. Registered users can also see the salaries for various positions within the companies.
I love the UPS whiteboard campaign.
The ads are mesmerizing they are sticky and the creative does not get in the way of the message.
The timing is impeccable. Andy Azula, the artist in the ads and creative director for The Martin Agency, makes what he is doing look easy. The tongue-in-cheek humor has longevity and is the inspiration for some ridiculous youtube knockoffs.
The Martin Agency got almost everything right. The music is perfect. Nearly. You see, the band is called…
THE POSTAL SERVICE.
