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Okay, so this year was a great one for music on several levels. First, there were a tremendous number of great albums released both by established bands (like Dinosaur Jr., Manic Street Preachers, Bob Dylan, Meat Puppets and more) and new, untested acts (including Cage The Elephant, The Low Anthem and Care Bears On Fire), thus reflecting the recent nervous tenor echoing throughout the music industry. It was crunch time for a lot of bands to produce or be left behind by the business, but it's incredible (and incredibly gratifying how many bands stepped up; it's usually pretty easy for me to make a top ten list of the best albums released in a given year because that's how many really leap out at me, but this year there were around forty that I had to choose carefully between to make a top ten.
In addition to the positive response to dangerous times that many bands offered up, fans were able to further revel in the music industry's panic; reissued releases from revered artists including The Beatles, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, David Bowie, Dr. Dre, Kraftwerk and many, many more re-graced record store shelves and glutted the iTunes store, all at reasonable prices and including as many extra accoutrements as one can imagine. Was it a matter of hedging bets on the potential quality of new music? Maybe, but that sort fear made this year great; in order to re-coup old costs, the business unleashed a bunch of stuff for which fans have been waiting years to hear, patiently. Between the new releases and the refurbished ones to come out in 2009, it was a good year to be a fan of good music; not in a very long time have fear, panic and job insecurity yielded such glorious, positive results.
As good as some musical aspects of this year were though, there were some heartbreakers too – and one of those is the reason this column takes the shape it does. Fans were saddened this year when they learned of the untimely passing of Canadian radio personality Martin Streek in July, 2009. It was sudden and came as a totally unexpected shock. One of the last of the original personalities still working at CNFY 102.1 The Edge, Streek was a much beloved fixture on the air, in clubs and at shows. At the time, blogs clogged with sympathies to Streek's family and personal remembrances of the different ways in which he touched people's lives. One of the shows (in addition to his club night broadcasts and regular appearances at The Kingdom in Burlington, Ontario, The Phoenix Concert Theater and the Velvet Underground in Toronto and more) was the Thursday 30 countdown rounding up the top hits of the week so, if only for once, Ground Control pays tribute to Martin Streek with one annual Thursday 30 rounding up the best albums this year. If you haven't heard them yet, check them out – you won't be disappointed. Included at the end is a mix of songs (one from each album) to make a sort of Thursday 30 countdown for the year for a sampling of what happened through the weeks and months of 2009; it's very bittersweet, but this one's for Martin.
The Thirty Best Albums Of 2009
Artist/Title (Label)
30: 6 Day Riot/Have A Plan (Tantrum) – While the album does include all of the tracks from 6 Day Riot's debut EP, the album goes a step further by beefing up the band's image (and playlist) to present the band in a proper light. Presenting the band as a sunny, folky marvel, 6 Day Riot wins every heart attached to the ears this album touches.
29: Wand/Hard Knox (Ecstatic Peace!) – Recorded between October, 2002 and January, 2007, Hard Knox is exactly what fans would expect of a set of Wooden Wand demos but made all the more special because no fan could have reasonably expected to hear them; stripped down to the act's essence (guitar, vocals, the occasional back-up voice or bass part), both the songs and the singer have nowhere to hide as images of hellfire, brimstone, trial, tribulation and trepidation are all extolled in a haphazard swirl and left splattered on the spot for listeners to sort out and lap up. For any other singer of his generation (Dylan can pull it off – and has – but he's both a unique breed and an older hand), such a conglomeration would be a 'for complete-ists only' affair but, here, there are sparks of brilliance floating in the darkness. True, while songs like “All These Generous Men” (on which Toth's wife, Jexie Lynn, takes lead vocals) and the far-too-lugubrious “Dead Of Night” are throwaway flotsam, songs including “Dark Is Bleeding,” “Trails,” “Urchins” and “Saturday Delivery” all bear an off-the-cuff greatness that fuels the songs and helps get them over rather than detracting from them. True too, some of the vocals are indeed scratch lines (that's a nice way of characterizing “It might be too late to smile and turn when she smiles on you/It might be too late to paint the bottom of your boat blue” from “Lady Of Situations”) but, in this musical context, such tossed off lines end up feeling honest and candid somehow; even if they are just ballads of beautiful (and convenient) words, there's something disarming and sweet about them that will hold a willing listener enthralled. [view more]
28: NASA/The Spirit Of Apollo (ANTI–) – Collecting performances from literally every corner of the musical spectrum (including appearances by Method Man, David Byrne, Chuck D, Gift Of Gab, Karen O, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Tom Waits, George Clinton and MIA to name only a few), NASA masterminds Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon have redesigned the basics for song construction The Spirit Of Apollo: after assembling instrumental tracks that incorporate elements of Brazilian funk, reggae, electro-clash and hip hop, the duo has matched and mish-mashed diametrically opposed artists together to provoke each other and coax the best, most interesting performances in the name of making an impression. The results are different each time and some unexpected champions emerge, but the consistent benefactors of such competition are the tracks themselves. [view more]
27: Die Mannequin/FINO + BLEED (How To Kill/Warner) – Now joined by a producer blessed with a better idea of what to do with the band (previous producers included MSTRKRFT and Ian D'Sa of Billy Talent that did the best they could with the knowledge they had), Matt Hyde's mixes here push a far more confident Care Failure up to the front of the show and, not shy, she rises to the occasion; panting, howling, crooning, sighing and cavorting her way into every heart within earshot and not leaving a dry seat in the house through pristine takes of “Start It Up,” “Suffer,” “Bad Medicine” and “Caroline Mescaline.” Of course, such a gloriously over-the-top performance would fall flat and come across as silly and overdone were the music behind such histrionics not at least on par but, happily, the music compliments Failure's lines. [view more]
26: Teenage Bottlerocket/They Came From The Shadows (Fat Wreck Chords) – Prior to this point, TB was content to re-examine the finer points of 1-2-3-4 punk a la The Ramones but, this time out, the band unexpectedly hauls it out to the skate park to give their established design a little road rash. It works too; from the opening blur of “Skate Or Die” through the final crash of “Todays,” Teenage Bottlerocket invokes sunny memories of banana boards, pre-hardcore So Cal punk shows (an achievement for a band from Laramie, Wyoming) and that innocent time when the possibility of taking themselves seriously would draw nothing but peels of laughter and a chorus of jeers from every punk band in every scene. [view more]
25: ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead/The Century Of Self (Justice/Richter Scale) – As soon as the band kicks the engines over and launches into “The Far Pavilions,” they emerge, spring forth with teeth bared and lay waste with an incendiary conglomeration of lean, unadorned guitars and dead-blow drums that anyone listening will feel in their chests but still beg for more. The most significant, noticeable difference between Century Of Self and Trail Of Dead's two previous albums (particularly in the early going) is the seemingly conscious avoidance of major label or glossy production; while every instrument and arrangement is tight as a snare, the effects are minimal and Keely's voice is totally bereft of processing. Even so, the songs don't lose one tooth of bite because the band is just playing incredibly hard; throttling their instruments and creating naturally overdriven distortion with volume and attack rather than with stomp box effects. [view more]
24: Manic Street Preachers/Journal For Plague Lovers (Columbia/Sony Music) – Journal For Plague Lovers puts into sharp relief just how good the band was at the height of its powers (read: when Edwards was writing for them). From the scrappy, frayed-edge opening of “Peeled Apples,” the band sounds more vital than they have in fifteen years as the guitars slap listeners upside the head and commend them to pay attention while singer James Dean Bradfield snaps and snarls melodies more potent than anything since The Holy Bible (since Edwards' departure, Bradfield has given has given Morrissey a run for the title of 'best sullen disposition in rock'). In many ways, it feels like the band has returned and landed squarely in their golden age (not surprising given the vintage of the songs) but, even better, the band is actually performing them that way too; it doesn't sound like a fifteen-year absence from form returned older and wiser, it just sounds like vintage Manic Street Preachers. [view more]
23: Lee Harvey Osmond/A Quiet Evil (Latent Recordings) – The brainchild of ex-Junkhouse front man Tom Wilson and Cowboy Junkies founders Margo and Michael Timmins, Lee Harvey Osmond's debut invokes all manner of unusual imagery (even the band's name is a cross between fantastic and slightly psychotic sources; invoking Lee Harvey Oswald, Harvey The Rabbit and the Osmond family at the same time) and makes the most of letting the inherent darkness of the matter they're playing with simmer; glancing peripherally at it and alluding to it, but not addressing it directly. That sort of deliberate toying with listeners is incredibly salacious bait – Wilson's husky baritone combined with sounds that borrow from blues, folk and country & western as well as the Cowboy Junkies' stock brand of dissonant, electronic blues conjure an imposing, acid-touched and dark expanse that isn't harrowing because the band doesn't draw listeners in so much as perform these ten vignettes for the audience and only allow them to experience it in the third person. That buffer provides a comfort zone from which listeners to absorb the music and feel the tales of heartbreak, sadness, fury and excess, but not to partake of them – each is a self-contained event in which only the characters can be harmed, but listeners can still be seduced by them. [view more]
22: Cuff The Duke/Way Down Here (Noble Recording Co./Universal) – From the beginning of “You Were Right,” Cuff The Duke sets itself up for all to see and hear as the new millennium's answer to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; with singer/guitarist Wayne Petti up front brandishing just an acoustic guitar, bassist Paul Lowman, guitarist Dale Murray and drummer Corey Wood hang way back instrumentally but pipe right up vocally to fill the song with a joyous and lush four-part four-part vocal harmony. The tenderness and warmth of the sound is a marvel and, from right then, those older fans that scratched their head in dubious confusion at any rock connotation will just look up starry-eyed – this easy return is better than any of them could have hoped for. [view more]
21: Cage The Elephant/Cage The Elephant (DSP/Universal) – What opportune timing Cage The Elephant (or rather, their record label) has. After the announcement came down that Jack White would be embarking upon another side project apart from The White Stripes and The Raconteurs (for those that don't know, it's called Dead Weather and also features members of The Kills), Cage The Elephant's self-titled debut – which has been out in Europe since the middle of 2008 – finally sees release in North America. As “In One Ear” rolls out, it'd be very easy to assume the band is just a group of designer Jack-White-Stripes impostors (particularly given singer Matt Shultz' White-ish predisposition to nasaloid barking) thrown to the wolves to make a quick buck off of the unwary but, if you listen a little closer and think about it, the excitement around Cage The Elephant is warranted; not one song in these eleven comes up short. [view more]
20: The Grates/Teeth Lost, Hearts Won (Dew Process/Universal/RED) – More solid than sinewy in tone this time (and in total contradiction to similarly bent bands like The Gossip), Hodgson, guitarist John Patterson and drummer Alana Skyring wisely avoid the temptation to soften up for acceptance, setting their sights on a breed of power pop that is no less concussive than 2006's Gravity Won't Get You High, but the band's edge is certainly better tempered. [view more ]
19: Elliott BROOD/Mountain Meadows (Six Shooter) – Anyone familiar with the band's standing modus will be able to mark right away that something is very different this time out. There is no ramp up or salacious build, from the opening of “Fingers And Tongues,” Elliott BROOD doesn't creep in at all; in fact, they hit the ground marching and, with an arsenal of time-honored rock hooks in hand, catches listeners right away. That isn't to say that the band with the suitcase-hammering drummer spontaneously turned rock on their audience – it's clear in listening that Elliott BROOD still has folk, country and hill country revival tones right up front where they should be – but the single word that best qualifies qualifies the difference between Mountain Meadows and everything Elliott BROOD has done before is that this album is “bigger.” [view more]
18: Heavy Trash/Midnight Soul Serenade (Fat Possum/Big Legal Mess) – Something is obviously different in the run-time of this new album, and it shows from the opening tango shuffle of “Gee, I Really Love You.” There's a more genuine and vintage quality to Spencer's vocals here as the singer sticks closer to a true melody, abandons the novel, “Grade Z” Elvis impersonations that critics likened his voice to in JSBX, actually goes out of his way to write more complete (read: original, rather than loaded with goofy turns of phrase and repetition) lyric sheets and those sheets also have the added benefit of being intelligible. The difference proves to revelatory – like a fish spontaneously growing legs and learning to walk – because after so many years of routing out and winning fans with fun but fluffy and silly trappings, “Gee, I Really Love You” plays it tight and, with a solid guitar figure (Spencer leaves his JSBX-issued, “vacuum cleaner” guitar at home), turns out as the best kind of surprise. [view more]
17: Attack In Black/Years (By One Thousand Fingertips) (Dine Alone) – Abandoning the snide and snotty vocal styling that won Attack In Black their fan base on songs like “Young Leaves” a couple of years ago, Romano joins his bandmates on the back porch for an acoustic set that turns textural and multi-faceted when you really listen. The sweetness of these acoustic ballads is, of course, at the forefront of songs like “Birmingham,” “Liberties,” “Beasts” and “Seeds” but that laid back beauty is all on the face of the songs; snaking around the edges and waiting in the wings of each mix are Spencer Burton's fuzzy, scuzzy and salacious guitars that don't taunt or tease the audience with anything exactly, but do entrance listeners when they steal away to center stage. The interplay between Burton's guitar and Romano's ever-more-melodic vocals combined with the tasteful and reserved “Two Ians” rhythm section (Ian Kehoe on bass and Dan's brother Ian Romano on drums) construct and fill out just about the most salubrious performance that anyone's heard from a modern rock band recently and will make a fan out of everyone that hears it – even those of the belief that it's impossible for a bunch of punks to make something this heartfelt and still sound genuine. [view more]
16: Meat Puppets/Sewn Together (Megaforce) – [On Sewn Together] the band touches on most every base that fans could hope for. The Kirkwoods flex their instrumental chops and push the proceedings into the stratosphere with “Blanket Of Weeds” and dance their vaunted two-step up on the sun in “I'm Not You” before cooling their heels with some light but melancholy introspection in “Sapphire.” This is, of course, all ground that the Meat Puppets have covered before in their fractured, thirty-year career, but not in easily half that time has it sounded so sure or surreal. It's the magical combination of those two elements that has always been one of the most appealing factor to the Pups' music; there is always a pattern and path in place, but the band's ability to skew it slightly and find a different, abstract and exciting plain is the promise that always hooks listeners and that's exactly what happens here too. [view more]
15: William Elliott Whitmore/Animals In The Dark (ANTI–) – As the album opens with military snare-and-bass drumming and gang choral call-and-response in the appropriately dissenting “Mutiny,” Whitmore starts walking with a purpose and with an authority built from equal parts soul and righteous indignation which produces an attractive and arresting vibe. It’s a genuinely magical moment – the sound of a weary survivor still with some fight left in him standing up in protest to show that he won’t ever be laid low – that Whitmore stands behind on each of the following nine steps that he treads through the album’s runtime. He stands tall and steadfastly through songs including “Hell Or High Water,” “Lifetime Underground” and “A Good Day To Die,” but it isn’t as if he’s asking for volunteers to join him along the way not even other players; any additional instrumentation is slight (many songs are made up only of Whitmore’s voice and guitar or banjo) and production spare – like the singer has made Animals In The Dark as a personal test of will and strength. He sees adversity around every corner and ready tto leap out at every turn (“Who Stole The Soul” looks dry-eyed upon heartbreak while “Johnny Law” sneers at cops, “Old Devils” takes aim at the US government and “Hell Or High Water” weeps for fallen friends) but still he walks on tall; refusing to give any one of those adversaries any more time for address than they’re due. [view more]
14: Patrick Watson/Wooden Arms (Secret City/EMI) – What do you get when you intermingle the sensibilities and staple motifs of every globally celebrated pop act from the last forty-five years with some of the great melodic outsiders and misfits from the same period? That's the question Patrick Watson asks (and answers) with Wooden Arms – an album have would see Syd Barrett, Edgard Varèse, the entire cast from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Mothers Of Invention and The Magic Band sit down to dine and talk shop with the Wainwright family, Tricky, Tom Waits, Mark Oliver Everett, Cliff Friend and Dave Franklin if it had its way. The proposition seems head-spinning but is apt as Wooden Arms successfully re-imagines the core timbres of every sound it touches on; ominous Italian trad (think the score from The Godfather) turns wistful on the title track here, while lilting strings will melt even the most hardened listener's heart in “Hommage” before shocking them with luminescent and mercurial Waitsian oompah in “Traveling Salesman.” [view more]
13: Mission Of Burma/The Sound The Speed The Light (Matador) – Because it's been happening so much over the last few years, it's pretty safe to assume that there are those on the outside looking in with the impression that it's easy for a band to reconvene or stage a comeback. How couldn't it be? The groundwork, name recognition and mythos has already been laid down right? Wrong. In Mission Of Burma's case, the perils of coming back after so many years away were pretty numerous and clear but the band shocked fans by doing it not only well, but with some new sounds to boot. The Sound The Speed The Light modernizes and recasts the band as a virile creative entity that genuinely does have some new sounds to offer and a new stake to claim. [view more]
12: Sufjan Stevens/The BQE (Asthmatic Kitty Records) – Outside of the truly urban sprawl of “Movement IV: Traffic Shock” that opens with what sounds like car alarms going off, movements like “Self-Organizing Emergent Patterns,” “In The Countenance Of Kings” and “Linear Tableau with Intersecting Surprise” delve into almost whimsical territory with some adventurous focus on high-registered instruments (flute, predominantly) and enormous flourishes thereof (check “Isorhythmic Night Dance with Interchanges”) and breakneck tempos that simply soar. The album as a whole rides these currents and causes a listener to feel elated, but also incites the urge to move with the crescendos as they manifest; pacing almost seems like it should be an involuntary reflex when “The Emperor of Centrifuge” peaks. [view more]
11: Eels/Hombre Lobo (Vagrant/eWorks) – From the opening joyous howl of “Prizefighter,” Mark Oliver Everett starts at the beginning of a relationship where previously he had agonized over the break-ups and dissolution of them; the sight of a beloved and that elation that makes the average guy give chase and the excitement of that act are what drive Hombre Lobo. It's an exhilarating moment and fascinating to hear the change in Everett's demeanor as the singer boasts and preens to get the girl's attention, hopes for it (“That Look You Give That Guy”), gawks at it (“Tremendous Dynamite”), dreams of it (“In My Dreams”) and even begs for it (“What's A Fella Gotta Do”) and covers every point in between in his quest for some affection. Sometimes the lines get blurry – depending upon the track, sex and love seem to become synonymous – but on each song there's no arguing that Everett wants to get close to someone – either mentally or physically. [view more]
10: Tom Waits/Glitter & Doom Live (ANTI–) – Backed by a six-piece band that includes (by turns) guitar, banjo, organ, chamberlain, melotron and upright bass, Waits grinds, stomps howls and croons out augmented and updated performances of classics including “Singapore,” “Get Behind The Mule,” “Fannin Street,” “Metropolitan Glide” “Goin' Out West” and more to audiences that know they're witnessing something rare and great, and the intangible fact that the audience is savoring it seems to bleed through headphones as, when Waits performs, they don't make a peep. If they did, it would be impossible to miss; each song has been retrofitted here to resemble the airy grooves that characterized Real Gone and so, while each song remains hard to hold, there's still enough space in each arrangement to let the audience (both those that were in attendance and those that are peaking in now with headphones) take each song in and find some space to call their own. [view more]
9: Bob Dylan/Together Through Life (Columbia) – In his 47-year tenure as a professional musician, Bob Dylan has imposed a series of stylistic modifications on his songwriting style to satiate his muse (he's been “reborn” and born again – as just two examples) but usually by the time those changes are presented to fans, they're so complete, seamless and confidently presented that they're regularly referred to as “comeback” albums – even if the creative ground covered on them is fresh to him. With that common critical approach to the singer's work in mind, Together Through Life will probably be called another “comeback” except that, rather than returning to any particular sound, Dylan has returned to a vibe and emotional center that he hasn't touched on in a while. Since 1993, the singer has remained in a fairly grim and prophetic mode (the irony of Love and Theft being released on September 11, 2001 was a perfect accident) but on Together Through Life Dylan returns to the secular pleasures of musing on the beloved. [view more]
8: Moneen/The World I Want To Leave Behind (Dine Alone/Vagrant) – On listening, some fans and detractors will claim that Moneen has lightened up as the band's distortion pedals get turned down on more tracks than they don't, Bridges sings a little prettier than he ever has before and the proceedings as a whole mark a lighter touch than the approaches that the band took for records like The Red Tree and The Theory Of Harmonial Value, but that's not exactly the case. A better way to look at it is that the focus on The World I Want To Leave Behind has shifted; where once Moneen would turn up the volume to build momentum and scream off all doubts, songs like “Believe,” “The Long Count” and “The Way” all find a cathartic center that's more heart than hurt. [view more]
7: Green Day/21st Century Breakdown (Reprise/Warner Brothers) – Some might scoff and say that the whole premise of 21st Century Breakdown is a soft option; another concept album in follow-up to Green Day's defining moment? Cynics will scorn the band for turning the same trick twice and instantly start trying to route out the same-y tracks from the album's runtime to illustrate how Green Day's creative process must have stalled out and, for the uninitiated, it's a reasonable argument; five years hence or not, covering such similar methodologies does seem questionable, but the band must have taken that line of thought into account when they began this album. Opening with “Song Of The Century,” Billie Joe Armstrong (perhaps as Christian, or perhaps the song is designed to be a pre-amble or foreword) is found picking his way through the rubble and desperately trying to find some relief from a road hard run. One could interpret it as a look at the aftermath of the seemingly unending swath that American Idiot cut through the popular consciousness and, tired and meek, our hero hopes for “the song of the century/of panic and promise and prosperity” to guide him through. [view more]
6: Care Bears On Fire/Get Over It! (S-Curve) – In listening to Care Bears On Fire's sophomore long player, it's hard not to feel a sense of (certainly misplaced) paternal pride. Particularly now, in the landslide of ghost-written, saccharine-encrusted pop unloaded on kids by Family Channel-endorsed, neatly-pressed and media savvy kid rock (see Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and Demi Levado among others), it's easy to forget that young people have a voice of their own but that it's still often ignored. It can be downright terrifying to think that kids watch and aspire to the hyper-sexualized images (Disney's vaunted morality clauses or not) of these not-much-older characters that have a history of melting down and falling from grace on television, but such seems to be the norm. Happily though, Care Bears On Fire and their new album Get Over It! stand as the antidote to that aforementioned cavalcade of nonsense. [view more]
5: The Dead Weather/Horehound (Thirdman/Warner Brothers) – The raw energy of Horehound's eleven tracks is difficult to argue against. True to their name, Dead Weather blows in like a force of nature as “60 Feet Tall” sets a grainy, eerie and epic tone for the proceedings. On Horehound, The Dead Weather conjure dark, twisted and sinister vibes with all of the methodical energy they have at their disposal with Mosshart strapped to the front-end riding waves of keyboards (“There's a bullet in my pocket burnin' a hole” as a sample from “So Far Form Your Weapon”), stomping drums and incendiary guitars. The effect is remarkable – like the hellfire rush that might come from Cristina Martinez if she co-wrote with Jon Spencer (instead of just having him play along as he does in Boss Hog) – as demons, dust bowls, floods and fury converge to produce a tempestuous amalgam that doesn't rely on any one bandmember's established strengths. Instead, Horehound pretends as if the band appeared from nowhere; Mosshart sighs seductively while Fertita plays like a flood down in Texas and White punctuates the earth-rumbling concussive caresses that Lawrence lays down. It's an epic and risky transition for four established and celebrated musicians to make. [view more]
4: Strike Anywhere/The Iron Front (Bridge Nine) – After signing on with Fat Wreck Chords for the release of Dead FM in 2006 and seeing just how poppy and conventional they could make their caustic blend of street punk and hardcore, Iron Front marks a glorious return for Strike Anywhere to a sound, method of operation and songwriting (in order: harder edged on a smaller label with politics and social concerns at the forefront) that might not qualify as a comfort zone for most, but it is certainly the place where the band shines brightest. Iron Front marks a return to the form and strengths of Strike Anywhere true, but it isn't quite so simple as that either – not exactly. Iron Front does indeed return to the political/protest brand of songwriting that has been Strike Anywhere's single greatest weapon and draw for the last eight years, but the sound of the songs is also more popularly accessible which makes the album an exposition of the best of all possible worlds. [view more]
3: Dinosaur Jr./Farm (Jagjaguwar) – There is an important difference between a “comeback” and a “return." A comeback simply presents a cloying enactment of old glories in slightly new forms; it's a safe and easy production – a reprise. A return entails the reappearance of an entity that's aware time has passed and so uses the lessons previously learned to continue forth, undaunted, onto new territory. ...Farm is Dinosaur Jr.'s return. [view more]
2: The Low Anthem/Oh My God, Charlie Darwin (Nonesuch/Warner Bros.) Beginning with the sleepy and high-lonesome beauty of “Charlie Darwin,” The Low Anthem delivers on the promise of a special gift and, via the aforementioned track as well as “To Ohio” and “Ticket Taker,” multi-instrumentalists Ben Knox Miller, Jeffrey Prystowsky and Jocie Adams agree to meet Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen and James Jackson Toth down in lonesome town and wrote and recorded this album along the way to chronicle the trip. En route, The Low Anthem sees things – fantastic to behold – like the explosion of a sunrise on some desolate plain (in “The Horizon Is A Beltway” where singer Miller proclaims, in awe, “The skyline's on fire!”) and the jaw-dropping expanses of Americana and plays justice to what they see. Along the way too, they run into unusual characters (including Jack Kerouac – on the road himself – in “Home I'll Never Be” and the ghosts who write history books in a song by the same name) and, in every case, the band plays catbird to the stimuli they're confronted with (Miller hits song pretty impressive vocal high notes in “Charlie Darwin,” sleazes up to Morrissey proportions on “Cage The Songbird” and whispers secrets so quietly you can hear it when his tongue slides over his teeth on “Ticket Taker” before barking like a crazed dog on “The Horizon Is A Beltway” and “Home I'll Never Be”) and listeners find themselves willingly and easily giving in to let them take the lead on this tour – with instrumental accompaniment ranging from the finest folk to Country & Western straight out of Appalachia to sinewy rock n' roll – because there always seems to be something remarkable around every corner. [view more]
1: Frank Turner/Poetry Of The Deed (Xtra Mile/Epitaph) – [On his new album] Turner sets to continuing his rootsy ripping and ribbing (imagine if Billy Bragg had a smart mouth to go with his quick tongue and political temperment and you're on the right track) of every unseemly power-that-be and vile personal indulgence that truly needs it. After the aforementioned establishment-baiting, the British government and monarchy go on the block in “Sons Of Liberty” (choice lyric: “So if ever a man should ask you for your business, or your name/ tell him to go fuck himself, tell his friends to do the same”) before Turner reveals a very candid look at his family life (“Faithful Son”) and lets his heart go out to those depressed souls he sees around him (“Richard Divine”) among others. Each one is captivating, because Turner voluntarily inhabits each scenario – no matter how dark – and invites listeners to do the same so they can understand the subtleties rather than cast their impressions from the inside out. That sort of interior involvement (rather than callous outside observation or contrived simpiness for a doomed figure) is very cathartic for listeners and compliments the musical treatment of the matter perfectly; while obviously judgmental and outspoken, Turner and his band offer no flash, no dazzle and no critique from the comfy confines of a designer wardrobe, only the very real impressions and heart of an honest, and unrepentant every-man. Being himself is the best thing Frank Turner could have done on Poetry In The Deed. [view more]
Download:
Frank Turner - "Try This At Home" - Poetry Of The Deed
Strike Anywhere - "South Central Beach Party" - The Iron Front
Dinosaur Jr. - "I Want You To Know" - Farm
Care Bears On Fire - "Barbie Eat A Sandwich" - Get Over It!
Moneen - "Hold That Sound!" - The World I Want To Leave Behind
Bob Dylan - "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'" - Together Through Life
Tom Waits - "Metropolitan Glide" - Glitter & Doom Live
Eels - "Fresh Blood" - El Hombre Lobo
Sufjan Stevens - "Movement VI: Isorhythmic Night Dance With Interchanges" - The BQE
Mission Of Burma - "So Fuck It" The Sound The Speed The Light
Patrick Watson - "Beijing" - Wooden Arms
William Elliott Whitmore - "Johnny Law" - Animals After Dark
Meat Puppets - "Sewn Together" - Sewn Together
Attack In Black - "Beasts" - Years (By One Thousand Fingertips)
Heavy Trash - "Bumblebee" - Midnight Soul Serenade
Elliott BROOD - "Write It All Down For You" - Mountain Meadows
The Grates - "Burn Bridges" - Teeth Lost, Hearts Won
Cage The Elephant - "Tiny Little Robots" - Cage The Elephant
Cuff The Duke - "You Were Right" - Way Down Here
Lee Harvey Osmond - "Lucifer's Blues" - A Quiet Evil
Manic Street Preachers - "Jackie Collins Existential Question Time" - Journal For Plague Lovers
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Bells Of Creation" - The Century Of Self
Teenage Bottlerocket - "Skate Or Die" - They Came From The Shadows
NASA - "Spacious Thoughts" - The Spirit Of Apollo
Wand - "Saturday Delivery" - Hard Knox
Six Day Riot - "So You're A Writer" - Have A Plan