The Year In Listening (2009)

If I’m completely honest, I will admit that I listen to far more music from the 70′s than any other decade. Between masterful albums from Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Frank Zappa, The Isley Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Donny Hathaway, Brian Eno, Steve Reich, and Devo, I get most of my nourishment from music that was made over 30 years ago. That having been said, 2009 was a solid year for new music. If my Top 10 reads like an excerpt from my address book, I make no apologies. Personally, I enjoy reading year end lists that include albums and artists I’ve never heard. Two such lists that come to mind are from Lars Gotrich and Nick Hennies.

I did not list any records that I released (personally or on Sounds Are Active) but I have included The Widow Babies second (and final) album, Jetpacks, which I produced and engineered. It’s that good.

Honrable Mentions

Deradoorian- Mind Raft
There is something about Angel Deradoorian‘s song “High Road” that reminds me of Belladonna-era Stevie Nicks. That is an incredibly good thing.

ZaneOne- L.A. Woman
With legendary underground hip-hop producer Dert handling beats and samples, Zane finally gets her moment to shine. The heavy metal guitars on the self-titled, “ZaneOne” take RUN-DMC’s “Rock Box” to the next level.

Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society- Infernal Machines (New Amsterdam)
Ambitious, clean and well arranged, it took me a little while to finally listen to this album, but I’m glad I did. I have a feeling that whatever comes next is going to be incredible.

TOP 10 of 2009

10. Mos Def- The Ecstatic (Downtown Records)
Mos Def stops acting and starts rapping. Probably the best album of his career. Remarkably consistent considering all the different producers involved.

09. C.J. Boyd- Aerial Roots (Joyful Noise Recordings)
Picking up where The Greatest Weight left off, C.J. moves his solo bass tempest in any direction that his imagination desires. Meditative, grounded and gorgeous.

08. DM Stith- Heavy Ghost (Asthmatic Kitty Records)
With equal concern for texture, structure and harmony, DM Stith layers hundreds of tracks and keeps simple melody at the core. Hard to believe this is a debut album.

07. Serengeti & Polyphonic- Terradactyl (Anticon)
Two of the most misunderstood and progressive artists working in hip-hop. Terradactyl doesn’t sound like any other record released this year.

06. Nels Cline- Coward (Cryptogramophone)
Nels Cline at his most vulnerable, Coward finds him dancing through ECM territory on all manner of stringed instruments. It also contains one of the prettiest pieces of music I heard all year in “Prayer Wheel”.

05. Brian Blade- Mama Rosa (Verve Forecast)
Brilliant jazz drummer Brian Blade makes his debut as a singer/songwriter. Half of Mama Rosa‘s songs are stunning embodiments of the medium informed by the masters (Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan- the latter two Blade has performed alongside). The occasional song, like “Get There”, reminds you that he might be human after all.

04. The Widow Babies- Jetpacks (OlFactory Records)
Twelve burning, undeniably catchy songs in under 19 minutes, The Widow Babies second album finds them fulfilling all the promise heard in The Mike Watt E.P. Drummer/lyricist Tabor Allen churns through complex drum patterns while Danny Miller scrapes sunshine out of his guitar. Bassist Neal Marquez and vocalist Elise McCutchen integrate the band’s sound with powerful low and high end accents. SadlyJetpacks is also the band’s too soon swan song.

03. Grizzly Bear- Veckatimest (Warp Records)
It’s funny how “prog” used to be a four-letter word. In the last ten years bands like Deerhoof and Blonde Redhead helped reintroduce the genre with fresh aggression and now, somehow, Grizzly Bear releases the most ambitious album I have heard in years. Not only is it a well arranged and highly considerate album, it also sounds gorgeous. I would also propose that Veckatimest is the bastard love child of Pet Sounds and Close To The Edge, but that’s a conversation for another time.

02. Cryptacize- Mythomania (Asthmatic Kitty Records)
Mythomania was the first album I heard in 2009 that blew me away. Chris Cohen‘s chords are so smart, Nedelle Torrisi‘s voice so pure, and the presentation so right, I was certain that it would end up as one of my most listened to albums of year. Songs like “What You Can’t See Is” and “New Spell” made sure of it.

01. Little Dragon- Machine Dreams (Peacefrog)
I was minding my own business when I accidentally listened to the radio in Los Angeles. Little Dragon was performing live on KCRW and I was hooked. After dozens of times through Machine Dreams I am starting to understand why I love it so much: the synth-heavy 80′s production is pitch perfect (especially on the live drums) and vocalist Yukimi Nagano imbues each song with strange phrasings and melodic imagination. Highlights include the weird Zappa-esque keyboard harmonies over a stilted Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis beat on “Swimming” or the devastating melody that sneaks into the non-chorus of “Fortune”.
Far and away, the album I listened to most in 2009.

The Year In Listening (2008)

I am used to feeling a certain gaping remove from most things: society at large, the greater music listening public, their trends and so on. This year was no different in that respect; I saw names rise up out of the fertile ground tilled by publicists and float above the dirt just long enough for someone to make their money back. I heard ideas touted and technologies romanced until they formed a glut of binary nonsense before my very eyes.

I tried my best to make a living as a musician this year and the remove required in that effort was almost Herculean. Twilight & Ghost Stories II anyone? It’s a strange life with strange requirements. Maybe my training wheels will come off in the next twelve months.

Nevertheless, this year was rich with musical experiences: I composed my first video game score, performed Twilight & Ghost Stories in both San Francisco and Austin, wrote my first extended piece for violin and cello, released both Interoceans, Interoceans Remixed and the Schlarb Family Christmas Album. I also produced a few great albums including the debut records for The Widow Babies, Steve Gerstein and The Commotions. I even got to tour the West Coast alongside ellul with I Heart Lung and play a gig with Kira Roessler and Mike Watt. I also saw Herbie Hancock and Joni Mitchell play music together less than 20 feet away from my physical body.

I definitely spent more time this year listening to and working on my own music and projects than any other I can think of. I remember how, just ten years ago, my ears were so open and ready to absorb the millions of ideas floating around out there. Now I use the music of other artists to help escape my own ideas and reflect on the creative process.

As far as those rising names and their associated publicity machines; I’ve never been good at riding bandwagons. Sometimes I’m too stubborn for my own good.

With all that bluster for context, here were the 2008 albums that moved me:

5. Juana Molina- Un Dia
4. NOMO- Ghost Rock
3. Strategy- Music For Lamping
2. Cynic- Traced In Air
1. Squarepusher- Just A Souvenier

The Year In Listening (2007)

10 (TIE). Castanets- In The Vines (Asthmatic Kitty Records)
A difficult puzzle of an album, In The Vines boasts one of the best songs of the year in “Strong Animal,” and finds Ray Raposa allowing the sun to shine on half of his face. The record twists between hideous hiss and gorgeous texture. It may take a few years time to sink in completely.

10 (TIE). Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings- 100 Days 100 Nights (Dap Tone Records)
Why don’t more people have fun with music? 100 Days 100 Nights is solid, if not occasionally spectacular, from beginning to end. Three cheers for two and half minute songs.

9. (TIE) Joni Mitchell- Shine (Hear Music)
Not canonical but worth repeated listens. The drum machine sounds that made me cringe were later reconciled by Brian Blade‘s live time keeping. The point is, even mediocre Joni Mitchell has more staying power than the best of the current crop of heralded singer/songwriters.

9. (TIE) Herbie Hancock- River: The Joni Letters (Verve)
I know this is cheating but it’s my list. There are moments of spine-tingling beauty on this record. Not everything works, however this is a more robust set of ideas and arrangements than the wobbly A Tribute To Joni Mitchell. Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Vinnie Colaiuta all shine as do Norah Jones, Mitchell herself and, in an adept bit of casting, Tina Turner.

8. 4Hero- Play With The Changes (Raw Canvas)
Another in a group of completely ignored releases, I don’t think I read one review on Play With The Changes anywhere online. 4Hero are masters of modern soul and dance music and on their first album in years they bring back their immaculate string arrangements, crisp upright bass and cutting drums. Oh, and a few British vocalists who can actually sing. Sorry America.

7. His Name Is Alive- Sweet Earth Flower (High Two)
A deep, moody collaboration between His Name Is Alive‘s Warn Defever and NOMO‘s Elliot Bergman, Sweet Earth Flower reminds me of the constant question of why “jazz” is so stagnant. Here we have a tribute to saxophonist Marion Brown that echos the openness of the late 60′s early 70′s jazz scene. What brings the album into focus (besides great engineering and sensitive playing by all) is the freshness of Defever‘s simple electric guitar. He says more with a few sustained whole notes than others can say with hundreds of double picked 32nds.

6. ellul- s/t (Sounds Are Active)
I’ve heard a lot of records in the last twelve months but few give me both the chills and head scratching arrangements of ellul‘s self titled debut. Bias aside, this album blows the sonic walls down on most records this year. A true artistic achievement that has been all but ignored by the current musical cognoscenti. My hope is that one day this wonderful record with find a wider, more appreciative audience.

5. Badun- s/t (Rump Recordings)
I don’t remember how I heard about Badun but I’ll never forget listening to them for the first time. A Danish trio who specialize in a kind of ambient-electro-jazz-scrabble, Badun‘s debut is a fascinating examination of a near future where jazz musicians sublimate their chops and chop up their music into unrecognizable idioms.

4. Radiohead- In Rainbows (self-released)
What can I say? It’s a great record. And the first that I’ve purchased by Radiohead since OK Computer.

3. Robert Plant | Alison Krauss- Raising Sand (Rounder)
If there is a better, more considered collaboration between two vocalists released in the last few years, I haven’t heard it. For the first time Plant sings softly and from the heart. Krauss‘ gorgeous tenor is amazingly well suited to wrap up their harmonies. With arid guitars from T-Bone Burnett and Marc Ribot and perfect pedal steel from Greg Leisz the album is a collection of traditional folk, country and blues with a few surprises (Led Zeppelin & Tom Waits) thrown in. Burnett has produced the kind of masterpiece that will reward for years and years to come.

2. Strategy- Future Rock (Kranky)
Pick Dickow is a singular artist making singular music. The follow up to 2005′s Drumsolo’s Delight, Future Rock has a leaner palette of textures and a more aggressive selection of beats. As always Dickow allows his songs to develop naturally without ever feeling overlong, incorporating an incredibly subtle composition/production ethic. Although recently named on The Wire‘s best of 2007 list Future Rock was largely unexplored in 2007 and that is truly a shame.

1. Sam Yahel Trio- Truth and Beauty (Origin Records)
Truth and Beauty is the first recording on which I truly enjoyed Joshua Redman‘s playing and saxophone sound. Drummer Brian Blade is, as usual, thoughtful, inventive and propulsive. But it is organist/leader Sam Yahel who has channeled the spirit of the classic Bill Evans trio (with Paul Motion and Scott LaFaro) writing six very strong originals while tackling three interesting and obscure covers. Together they have produced, by far, the best jazz record of the year.