(no subject)
OK Secondary, here it is my top ten.
1. Sufjan Stevens: Come on Feel the Illinoise
Sufjan has done it again. He is a genius, towering over the great American mid-west bringing people, places, and history to life. Illinois, the second album in his attempt to chronicle all 50 states on record, marks a great change from the approach he used with Greetings From Michigan. Michigan was not nearly as mythic as Illinois, because Michigan, as an album, simply relates how Sufjan feels about his home. Illinois, on the other hand, forces Sufjan to dig further into history and take a different approach.
Ultimately Illinois presents the view of an outsider looking in, yet Sufjan makes his outside observances just as intimate as the personal experiences of Greeting From Michigan. Stevens gets into the mind of serial killer, a young boy mourning the death of the girl he loved. He presents us with real American legends such as Stephen A. Douglas the “Great Debater” and Abraham Lincoln the “Great Emancipator.” UFO sightings, Tuesday night Bible studies, road trips; Sufjan makes it all seem so close and real. In a way this album has become like a musical equivalent to Kerouac’s On the Road for me. Both the album and the book overwhelm me with both joy and sadness, excitement and longing, and the realization that this country is great. I hope Sufjan can keep it up.
2. Antony and the Johnsons: I am a Bird Now
Certainly the most stunningly beautiful record of the year. “I am a Bird Now” is full of longing and sadness but Antony has also presents the hope of overcoming these obsticles Antony opens with “I Hope There’s Someone” in which he sings, “I’m scared of that middle place/ between life and nowhere.” “Bird Gurl” closes the album with a brighter view: “I am a bird girl and bird girls goes to heaven....bird girls can fly.” And Rufus Wainwright, Boy George, Lou Reed, and Devendra Banhart all lend a hand...pure greatness.
3. LCD Soundsystem: self-titled
Disc 2 alone should probably top this list, due to the fact that James Murphy is a master of the 12" single. But hey disc 2 doesn’t count and disc 1, the actual album, is pretty damn good...like #3 record of the year good. Trust me, as an official DFA Twin I know these things...for I have shaken my ass to this record many a time...oh and James Murphy is even hotter in person.
But seriously, considering all the imitating and genre hopping James does this is still an amazing record. Yeah, yeah “Daft Punk...” sounds like “Roadrunner” by the Modern Lovers, “Never as Tired...” sounds like John Lennon, and “Great Release” might as well be an Eno song, but who cares... it rocks!!! ‘nuff said.
4. Bonnie “Prince” Billy & Matt Sweeney: Superwolf
“I have often said/ that I would like to be dead/ in a shark’s mouth.” And thus Will Oldham ushers in his latest creation as the all powerful Bonnie Billy. Superwolf is not only Will’s most macabre and darkly humorous album since his first Bonnie Billy album, I See a Darkness, it’s also his best. Matt Sweeney adds some great melodies and guitar parts, and might be responsible for helping Oldham climb back to greatness from, oh I don’t know, lesser greatness? All kneel before the Superwolf!!
5. M.I.A.: Arular
Great beats and production, great lyrics, great bod... she is deffinitly one of the best things going in hip-hop.... I love you Maya!!!
6. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: s/t
Oh God, what an awful band name, what an awful singer!!! Yes, these were my first impressions...but it grew on me like the vocal terror of Neutral Milk Hotel’s Stephen Magnum(which Clap Your Hands... wouldn’t know about, because they don’t care about indie name dropping, or indie rock in general, OK?!?). Supposedly only influenced by older acts such and Dylan and the Velvets...these guys come at you like a pack of crazy carnies in wall of organ reverb...just get past the vocals and I swear it’s great.
7. The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema
A.C. Newman is pop genius, nearly in the same league as Brian Wilson...the Pornographers should be all over radio...but alas radio sucks and the band totally sabotaged their chances with their choice of band name...oh well, I didn’t want to share ‘em with those un-hip radio listeners anyway.
8. Black Mountain: s/t
Great melodic stoner rock...that about all there is to this one...it just RAWKS!!!
9. Art Brut: Bang Bang Rock and Roll
Are these guys serious? I don’t know, and I don’t care. Eddie Argos(lead singer) comes across as a slightly less prudish but equally child like and gleeful Jonathan Richman(the Modern Lovers) with a great sense of humor. So many great cheeky quotes here: from “I’ve seen her naked...twice!!” to, “Why don’t our parents worry about us?!?!” “I know I can, I know I can....I’m always fine when Im with my own hand!” to, oh my god he surely can’t be serious this time, “I can’t stand the sound of the Velvet Underground!!” Not that it even matters...I think that’s their point.
10. The Juan Maclean: Less than Human
OK, at first I wasn’t going to put this in my top ten...there are several other records I considered but then it hit me....none of these other artists ever shook my hand or remembered me on their message board and no, I mean no one, is half as sexy as Juan Maclean. Maybe I’m biased,but who cares. Juan, you’re the man.
1. Sufjan Stevens: Come on Feel the Illinoise
Sufjan has done it again. He is a genius, towering over the great American mid-west bringing people, places, and history to life. Illinois, the second album in his attempt to chronicle all 50 states on record, marks a great change from the approach he used with Greetings From Michigan. Michigan was not nearly as mythic as Illinois, because Michigan, as an album, simply relates how Sufjan feels about his home. Illinois, on the other hand, forces Sufjan to dig further into history and take a different approach.
Ultimately Illinois presents the view of an outsider looking in, yet Sufjan makes his outside observances just as intimate as the personal experiences of Greeting From Michigan. Stevens gets into the mind of serial killer, a young boy mourning the death of the girl he loved. He presents us with real American legends such as Stephen A. Douglas the “Great Debater” and Abraham Lincoln the “Great Emancipator.” UFO sightings, Tuesday night Bible studies, road trips; Sufjan makes it all seem so close and real. In a way this album has become like a musical equivalent to Kerouac’s On the Road for me. Both the album and the book overwhelm me with both joy and sadness, excitement and longing, and the realization that this country is great. I hope Sufjan can keep it up.
2. Antony and the Johnsons: I am a Bird Now
Certainly the most stunningly beautiful record of the year. “I am a Bird Now” is full of longing and sadness but Antony has also presents the hope of overcoming these obsticles Antony opens with “I Hope There’s Someone” in which he sings, “I’m scared of that middle place/ between life and nowhere.” “Bird Gurl” closes the album with a brighter view: “I am a bird girl and bird girls goes to heaven....bird girls can fly.” And Rufus Wainwright, Boy George, Lou Reed, and Devendra Banhart all lend a hand...pure greatness.
3. LCD Soundsystem: self-titled
Disc 2 alone should probably top this list, due to the fact that James Murphy is a master of the 12" single. But hey disc 2 doesn’t count and disc 1, the actual album, is pretty damn good...like #3 record of the year good. Trust me, as an official DFA Twin I know these things...for I have shaken my ass to this record many a time...oh and James Murphy is even hotter in person.
But seriously, considering all the imitating and genre hopping James does this is still an amazing record. Yeah, yeah “Daft Punk...” sounds like “Roadrunner” by the Modern Lovers, “Never as Tired...” sounds like John Lennon, and “Great Release” might as well be an Eno song, but who cares... it rocks!!! ‘nuff said.
4. Bonnie “Prince” Billy & Matt Sweeney: Superwolf
“I have often said/ that I would like to be dead/ in a shark’s mouth.” And thus Will Oldham ushers in his latest creation as the all powerful Bonnie Billy. Superwolf is not only Will’s most macabre and darkly humorous album since his first Bonnie Billy album, I See a Darkness, it’s also his best. Matt Sweeney adds some great melodies and guitar parts, and might be responsible for helping Oldham climb back to greatness from, oh I don’t know, lesser greatness? All kneel before the Superwolf!!
5. M.I.A.: Arular
Great beats and production, great lyrics, great bod... she is deffinitly one of the best things going in hip-hop.... I love you Maya!!!
6. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah: s/t
Oh God, what an awful band name, what an awful singer!!! Yes, these were my first impressions...but it grew on me like the vocal terror of Neutral Milk Hotel’s Stephen Magnum(which Clap Your Hands... wouldn’t know about, because they don’t care about indie name dropping, or indie rock in general, OK?!?). Supposedly only influenced by older acts such and Dylan and the Velvets...these guys come at you like a pack of crazy carnies in wall of organ reverb...just get past the vocals and I swear it’s great.
7. The New Pornographers: Twin Cinema
A.C. Newman is pop genius, nearly in the same league as Brian Wilson...the Pornographers should be all over radio...but alas radio sucks and the band totally sabotaged their chances with their choice of band name...oh well, I didn’t want to share ‘em with those un-hip radio listeners anyway.
8. Black Mountain: s/t
Great melodic stoner rock...that about all there is to this one...it just RAWKS!!!
9. Art Brut: Bang Bang Rock and Roll
Are these guys serious? I don’t know, and I don’t care. Eddie Argos(lead singer) comes across as a slightly less prudish but equally child like and gleeful Jonathan Richman(the Modern Lovers) with a great sense of humor. So many great cheeky quotes here: from “I’ve seen her naked...twice!!” to, “Why don’t our parents worry about us?!?!” “I know I can, I know I can....I’m always fine when Im with my own hand!” to, oh my god he surely can’t be serious this time, “I can’t stand the sound of the Velvet Underground!!” Not that it even matters...I think that’s their point.
10. The Juan Maclean: Less than Human
OK, at first I wasn’t going to put this in my top ten...there are several other records I considered but then it hit me....none of these other artists ever shook my hand or remembered me on their message board and no, I mean no one, is half as sexy as Juan Maclean. Maybe I’m biased,but who cares. Juan, you’re the man.