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January 09, 2006
When the electricity talks to the house [done - updated]
Soooo. Besides the fact that I'm putting up the final portion of this 'favorites of 2005' mix in the first week (some time) of 2006, I think this was a pretty successful operation. Little bit time-consuming, but good nonetheless. Why did it take so long? Maybe it was the holiday-induced laziness, the hours of travel, the paucity of vacation time? Mostly it's due to the fact that I like to put mixes together the old-fashioned way: by hand. That's right. All of these songs were converted to tape, then spliced (using common household tools) together, then pressed to vinyl, then converted back to mp3. Whole process has actually cost me over $25K. Totally worth it though. This little vanity project raised the employment level in my hometown by an impressive 2%. 16 college students earned internship credit just by helping to label the files.
Here are the constituents of pt.4:
40 Black Dice - Street Dude (Broken Ear Record) [BUY]
41 Page France - Chariot (Hello Dear Wind) [BUY]
42 Childballads - Cheekbones (Cheekbones EP) [BUY]
43 Out Hud - It's For You (Let Us Never Speak Of It Again) [BUY]
44 Final Fantasy - Furniture (Has A Good Home) [BUY]
45 Jackie-O-Motherfucker - Hey! Mr. Sky (Flags of the Sacred Harp) [BUY]
46 Wooden Spoon - Untitled 3 (Wooden Spoon) [BUY]
47 Birds of America - The Eyes of Our Youth Are Evil (Current Carry) [BUY]
48 Fiery Furnaces - Police Sweater Blood Vow (KEXP session) [INFO]
49 Electric Six Organs of Admittance - Close to the Sky (Bread, Beard, Bear's Prayers) [BUY]
50 Despistado - Broken (The People Of And Their Verses) [BUY]
51 Jan Jelinek - Lithiummelodie 1 (Kosmischer Pitch) [BUY]
52 LCD Soundsystem - Slowdive (XFM session/Disco Infiltrator single) [BUY]
53 Avey Tare - Judy Biworker (Esopus Magazine, issue 4) [BUY]
40 Black Dice - Street Dude
I love "Broken Ear Record" for the higher profile vocals, for the fact that the rhythmic intensity did not disappear when Hisham left the band, and for the fact that it's a much less, I don't know, restrained record than "Creature Comforts" or "Miles of Smiles", more along the lines of "Beaches and Canyons". The sounds on "Creature Comforts" seemed so clean (likewise with "Miles of Smiles", which is my favorite recording of theirs by far), but just about everything on BER is dirty, roughed up, weathered- which you can especially hear on 'Street Dude', with its quicksand pits of static and tangled-root guitars.
41 Page France - Chariot
(archives) Okay, okay, if you pressed me and I was absolutely forced to pick, this is my song of the year. It hits me as hard today as it did when I first heard it, back in the beginning of October- much like with the Broken Social Scene song I wrote about ('Major Label Debut (Fast)'), 'Chariot' will torque you out of a foul mood, no sweat. As Sean mentioned, it's about the Rapture ("at the trumpet call when we're all unsafe", "dance like elephants as he comes to us through a fiery golden ring", etc.) and is, I think I can say unequivocally, one of the most joyful, exuberant songs ever written about the end of the world; Michael Lau's eschatology just sounds so damn fun. Plus, I think it'd take a stone-hearted fool to deny the emboldening force of that line: "we will become a happy ending". (As I mentioned before, Lau's animistic/religious lyrics make for some compelling, vivid imagery- "Hello Dear Wind" is full of subtle and multivalent phrases).
42 Childballads - Cheekbones (aka Onion Domes of Tallahassee, White Chocolate Tea)
(archives) The return of Stewart Lupton. 'Cheekbones' sees the former Jonathan Fire*Eater lead singer working similar lyrical themes, or at the very least, constructing songs around narratives filled to the brim with poetic imagery viz. "Circle round a fort made of animal bones", "I bought a painting off the street of a haunted lake", "a shadow that's caught in the hollow of your cheekbone", "when you walk into the room, all the wallpaper comes in bloom" (that last one's my favorite). Musically though, this song reminds me a lot of the Rolling Stones- and while Lupton has been compared to Jagger before, it's really just a perfectly apt reference for 'The Onion Domes...', and if you want to get really fine-grained about it, start talking about "Beggars Banquet"-era Stones, specifically 'Street Fighting Man'- 'Onion Domes...' is the dense and bright-shining binary of that song. When Lupton harmonizes with Betsy Wright though, it rivals or even surpasses the best moments of Jonathan Fire*Eater- the wonderful theatricality is still there, the urgency and passion, but everything's rendered so much more delicately.
43 Out Hud - It's For You
It's either Molly or Phyllis that sings (with the intimacy of a whisper) in the beginning of 'It's For You': "He's up to something/she's up to something/and I can't breathe", and finishes the song by panting softly and deeply- a nice touch. Out Hud's second album is about a hundred times more likeable (and even danceable) than !!!'s "Louden Up Now", maybe due to Justin Vandervolgen's fantastic production work, or the amazing beats (maybe the best part of 'It's For You'), or the fact that Molly and Phyllis' warm, gentle voices complement Out Hud's music so well, and make each song just that much more tempting.
44 Final Fantasy - Furniture
I'm going to defer to Ryan Catbirdseat's relayed exchange with Carl (Zoilus) on this one, because this quote is what made me listen to Final Fantasy in the first place: "I did have one tiny problem with Has A Good Home, but Carl was kind enough to help me work through it. (My problem is at about the 1:24 mark on "Furniture", btw). I had said to Carl that it was "like a crispy black ink stain on the breast pocket of an otherwise immaculate white suit." Carl pointed out, "An immaculate white suit is fashion. An immaculate white suit with a black ink stain on the breast pocket is art."
45 Jackie-O-Motherfucker - Hey! Mr. Sky
(not at all what I had expected) JOMF was one of those bands that I had always heard a lot about, sometimes (and oddly) in relation to Godpssed You! Black Emperor (I guess it's the whole 'collective' thing)- but had never listened to, until I heard this song. What's the surprising part of it? The fact that it is such a well-tempered, laidback and structured song; I had imagined JOMF sounded like whatever free-jazz + slide guitar equaled. 'Hey! Mr. Sky' is gorgeous, flowing, and clear (actually reminds me a lot of Bark Psychosis- the more gentle ideas are teased out over the course of the song, and strengthened by contrasting noises/rough patches).
46 Wooden Spoon - Untitled 3
(archives) Owen Hills' songs are lambent, flowing, unexpected, and downright sneaky. "Untitled 3" (all the songs are unnamed) begins with the slow, tenuous fingering of a piano note, pierced soon after by a few tight packets of chords. Then, incongruously, brilliantly, a flurry of acoustic guitar rises up and weaves itself in through the stark air of the piano, like a group of kids playing tag, running suddenly and unwittingly through a house in the midst of a dour wake. Underneath it too, there's a slight harmonium drone, tugging gently at the rest of the song.
47 Birds of America - The Eyes of Our Youth Are Evil
Without delving into it too much, it's easy to sit back and hear just how pretty this song is (and what it is: a lakeside beach in the winter). There's that up-and-down guitar (one eyebrow raised), those dusty, cold handclaps, and (oh yes) the flurry-filled saxophone. Then listen to Nathaniel Russell's lyrics: "I can't feel my heart anymore/set me free", and a phrase I've always found particularly heartbreaking, "When I was just a boy/I dreamt/I dreamt all this life" (that would be a kind of weird curse). Birds of America have a 9 minute live version of this song (more sax, slower pace, very good) up on their website here, if you're interested.
48 Fiery Furnaces - Police Sweater Blood Vow
First posted by Matt Fluxblog, back in the day (April). Best thing they've ever written (I think). If you don't know it, listen to it now. Should be on the record after Bitter Tea (maybe?). Eleanor could not possibly be cuter (love the way she says "this is our new, new, new song"). Great lyrics, as usual: "On Christmas Eve, dizzy escalator malls", "chain-smoking ashes all over himself", "I'm an ice-skater's bruised knees". Although it's taken from a radio session and probably won't be released until late this year or early '07, I'm including it since I listened to it more than just about any other song in '05.
49 Electric Six Organs of Admittance - Close to the Sky
(archives) Ethan Miller (from Comets on Fire) writes in his liner notes to "Bread, Beard, and Bear's Prayers", that this track comes from a period in 2002 when Ben Chasny (= Six Organs) asked Comets to serve as his backing band, for a sort of free/noisy/groove version of Six Organs. Eventually, Chasny decided to break-up the project (sorta) and the Electric LP remains in limbo. 'Close to the Sky' though was chosen by Ethan Miller for inclusion on the compilation that he curated for Arthur Magazine's Bastet imprint. As Miller himself says, "the vocals were muddy as hell but great grooves and solos". And it's true- despite Chasny's voice sounding subterranean, it still shines through clearly, and the guitars on 'Close to the Sky' are alternately abrasive, scrambling, decorative, and absolutely searing. Listen to it- you won't be disappointed. I have to say though, if there's a whole album of this kind of stuff out there somewhere, Chasny and Comets on Fire should think seriously about releasing it, cause it's just jaw-droppingly pretty. The sounds they get are inspired, in the literal sense- everything seems so 'breathed into'.
50 Despistado - Broken
(archives) 'Broken' has all the traits of a standard Despistado burner: warm, frantic energy, the intriguing/baffling lyrics, and a certain rhythmic intensity. Everything that anyone could have come to expect from the amazing "Emergency Response" EP. But it's leaner, in a way, and more focused. At the start, there's a discreet, whispering guitar just sort of mindlessly stuck on a phrase- contrast that with the less polite, more confident guitar that emerges (with chunky chords) right before Dagan's ranting in the first verse (his voice is like Robert Smith's in a way- especially how it sounds like any and all anguish in his life and attendant disappointments live right in the back of his throat, like his words are filtered through something thick and intractable). After the first chorus, there's a beautiful little guitar noise that floats down every few seconds- it sounds more like a glass harmonica than anything. Dagan sings the chorus with unimpeachable passion, "This city is energy on the verge of collapse/and we're not feeling/like angels/despite the way that we look/we're all broken". At this point, there's really nothing that could convince me that this band wouldn't have been huge, had they stayed together (just listen to the ending of this song if you need proof).
51 Jan Jelinek - Lithiummelodie 1
Almost everything Jan Jelinek does is great, and I think it's because he's so very skilled at parceling out certain sounds; like he knows when he's gotten something that's gold, but he shows a lot of self-restraint (he's not stingy, and he doesn't over-indulge either). But I also love it when he uses some element consistently through the track, and in 'Lithiummelodie 1' it's that bough of pine needles brushing along against the trunk of a dead tree (or, if you prefer, the sound of a broom on a tiled floor). The loops on this one move so well, and the forest sounds make the song so mossy, humid, healthy, etc. Jelinek never disappoints.
52 LCD Soundsystem - Slowdive
Siouxsie and the Banshees cover. LCD Soundsystem. There was no way this wasn't ending up as a favorite. At 2:31 when the bass switches into 4th gear for a few seconds, it will make your knees buckle. Sometimes (like during this song) I think James Murphy is basically infallible.
53 Avey Tare - Judy Biworker
(archives) 'Judy Biworker' is from the great Esopus Magazine #4 compilation, which was constructed from readers' descriptions of their childhood imaginary friends. The musicians then took the vignettes and wrote songs based on these figments. Here's Judy Biworker's origin:
I had an imaginary friend-two, actually, but one was my best friend. Judy Biworker. We only spoke on the phone; it was a red plastic dial-up phone. She lived in Buffalo, New York, and that was due to all of the candy manufacturers being located there. [from Mary Ellen Carroll - New York, NY]
'Judy Biworker' is soft, meowing ambience. It sounds like a guitar being slowly massaged and tapped, with the resulting notes distended into something sweet and ropy, like brightly colored saltwater taffy. And this melody is one of Avey Tare's absolute most heartbreaking (next to maybe 'Winter's Love', and the forthcoming 'Banshee Beat' and 'Turn into Something'), especially when he's singing lines that are naturally (because of the subject matter) wrought in hard nostalgia, like "Judy, Judy/I call to you today/I hope that Buffalo's not gray", and "and I hope/and I pray/that I can meet you there someday". The few parts of this song when Avey Tare harmonizes with himself are just jawdropping- I think after hearing this, it's not really fair to refer to Noah (Panda Bear) as 'the pop one'. 'Judy Biworker' is easy on the ears.
Posted by Kevin at January 9, 2006 12:03 AM
Comments
Great 2005 mixtape! Can't wait to get the fourth portion; then i'll burn a neat little mp3-CDR of it, together with some personal favorites of the year :)
Posted by: Meadowmeal at January 5, 2006 04:30 PM