Albums Of The Month: October 2012

Albums Of The Month - October 2012

Before I start spouting off about what I think were the best albums of the past month, I'm terribly relieved to say that the election is finally over. It seemed to last two years, but it's finally over and dead. Now we can move on to the important things, like music and snacks and things.

3.) Andy Stott - Luxury Problems

There's a somber, underlying element to the murky electro house movement in the UK. There's more artists than one can count that bleed the elements - bass-heavy smoke screens filtered with echo spaced vocals, spinning slowly as if it were a stereotype of London rain. Ironically, the artist that seems to grasp the air space the best seems to be New York producer Burial, who plays with stuttered, moody vocals in the same vacuous landscapes.

And that's largely what is heard on Manchester producer Andy Stott's Luxury Problems. The sounds are unusually steep, but fit the billing of the English underground soundtrack. The tracks do the usually uneasy mission of collectively bleeding into one stable, but unnerving collage of movements. And as a whole piece, it comes through richer and fuller because of it.

2.) Miguel - Kaleidoscope Dream
I won't lie; I had no idea who Miguel was or where this album came from before early October. The obvious comparison here is to The Weeknd's breakthrough debut House Of Balloons, in 2011. To flatter sensibilities, that's actually fairly honest. The endearing R&B isn't slogged by lazy ambition, with Miguel asserting a collective identity. Tracks like "Do You" and standout "Don't Look Back" are immense, crashing, and exploratory, divvying between stadium aesthetics and street corner beats. In all, there's a lot to hear on the second and third times around, making Kaleidoscope Dream one of the more surprisingly daring albums of the year.

1.) Kendrick Lamar - good kid, m.A.A.d city
The number one album of October shouldn't shock anyone, anywhere. Among artists, Kendrick Lamar was probably mentioned more in 2012 than any other, and that was before the release of good kid, m.A.A.d city. With the tantamount hype raising ever so slightly by the weeks (a delayed release may have had something to do with it), the album delivered and then some. Tracks like "Backseat Freestyle" and "Swimming Pools (Drank)" had been out for some time before the full album, with fans admiring the Compton phenom's blisteringly fast verses, coated in some of the more stark themes that have become unfamiliar in mainstream hip-hop.

It's that obvious Compton influence that prevails here, twinged with modern spins. N.W.A. and Dr. Dre - who worked with Lamar on one of his first singles "The Recipe" - hold sway in a west coast vibe that spreads over territory. But rather than plug his Cali sensibilities every other verse, Lamar sells himself. Think more Tupac, less Easy E. Obviously that's a huge name to aim for, but if anyone can in, it seems he has the ability. 

Albums Of The Month - September 2012

Alright, I missed August. If I was searching for excuses I'd say, "Well, I was on vacation and ..." But in reality, there just wasn't a ton that I loved from last month. Is that a good enough reason to skip it? Probably not. But it happened and we all have to deal with it. So lets recap September and act like we didn't miss anything.

3.) Jens Lekman - I Know What Love Isn't

Jens Lekman is one of those names that comes with easy indie music familiarity. He's consistently producing solid records, but never anything that launches his name to the next recognized level. Basically, he's easy to accept and appreciate, but hard to genuinely love.

So does I Know What Love Isn't necessarily separate itself from the rest of Lekman's catalog? Not totally. The songs are serene, thoughtful, and sweet - just as you might expect - and have a warm kitsch to it all. It's a knocking reminder of the tender swill that comes through the best of Belle & Sebastian, hitting notes of gentle strings and full harmony on tracks like "Become Someone Else's." In terms of a grand scope, I Know What Love Isn't isn't flourishing with daring experiments - you can throw this anywhere in the Lekman discography and it'd fit in shockingly well - but that reminds you more and more how consistently good he has been over the years.

2.) The Killers - Battle Born

Shocking? Maybe.

Despite the booming careers of one of the most popular bands in the U.S., I have been shadily disinterested in The Killers. There's a somewhat guilty part in my heart of my profound appreciation of past tracks like "When You Were Young" and "All These Things That I Have Done," but there was never a personal fondness for their albums. Maybe the fact that Battle Born is actually good is more of a relief than anything; a vindication for why the band can be so popular. But I'd like to think that my praise has some sort of merit.

The album's opening half is surprisingly strong. Yes, there's a lofty exploration of unnecessarily big ideas from Brandon Flowers that can come off as vague cliches, but hell, it's being worked into damn good, catchy music. That description is fairly apt for the album's lead single "Runaways," which - just like "When You Were Young" and "All These Things That I Have Done" - reminds you how amazing the band can be, even though a lot of us don't like to admit it.

1.) How To Dress Well - Total Loss
Tom Krell, aka How To Dress Well, usually fit in a comfortable niche of soulful electro. Never terribly profound or otherwise, he fit into an expanding catalog of internet sub-genres that tired of explanation. So it may have been surprising how well Total Loss comes off, despite adhering to those same aesthetics.

The album, up and down, is terrifically engaging. Combing through Krell's light vocals and warm electronics, it's numbing and sweet, but still daring and exploratory. Take "Cold Nites" and "Say My Name Or Say Whatever"; the former acts as a straight up R&B single, but it bleeds into a dreary sample of someone reminding you that, "The only bad part about flying is having to come back down to the fucking world." And then, splash, you're back in Krell's romantic light. Jarred, but loving it that much more when it's there.

Albums of the Month: June 2012

Albums of the Month - June 2012

With summer officially beginning, we're more than halfway through 2012. While the year started out casually slow, the succession of months has really displayed some intensely original and invigorating material. This past month featured one of the year's most hyped releases (and it delivered!), emerging artists, and one man who shows up on Bears and Bullets fairly often. Here are my favorite three.

3.) Ty Segall Band - Slaughterhouse

Continually rising in from the San Francisco garage scene, Ty Segall's stamp on 2012 is more profound than ever. With his band's album Slaughterhouse (Insound), a blistering charm of cruising garage punk, an album collaboration with White Fence, and an upcoming tour with fellow San Fran-soon-to-be-legends Thee Oh Sees, Segall affirmed his name as the apparent torch-bearer to the late Jay Reatard. While there still seems to be a way to go before his name is put on the same pedestal as the Nashville punk pioneer, Slaughterhouse is the next step in that progression. Still unquestionably raw, especially on tracks like "The Bag I'm In," Segall put together his finest album yet.

2.) Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel ...
This year's front-runner for longest album title, the ageless (seriously, I don't think she ages) icon Fiona Apple's first album in seven years, The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw And Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (Insound) continues the confusing mad-woman allure that is Fiona. She's cleverly affectionate, playing with the ideas of need, desire, and love to the point where the definition is null. There are few who can do this, mending through unconventional rhythms and vocal renditions to the poignant stories in songs like "Werewolf" and "Anything We Want." It's those sweetly chaotic moments, with Apple dolling out melancholy verse between odd-ball sounds, that give you a moment to step into the 34-year-old genius' mind. And maybe it doesn't make sense to you, but there's a serene satisfaction knowing it does to her.

1.) The Tallest Man On Earth - There's No Leaving Now
If you're familiar with Bears and Bullets, then you're aware of my outward affection of Kristian Mattson, The Tallest Man On Earth. On his third album, and first since 2010's The Wild Hunt, Mattson has found his unavoidable niche. The jarring, unequivocally saddening and uplifting style of modern folk music is usually nothing more than acoustics and an occasional piano, but his romantic verses are what keep pushing the limits of his artistic flexibility. Songs like the title track and "Little Brother" are impossibly emotional, evoking scenes that very, very few others are even capable of. But maybe I'm biased. 

Albums of the Month: May 2012

Albums of the Month - May 2012

Without much question, May has been the standout month of 2012 in terms of new music. There have been quite a few masterful releases during the span, including the highly-anticipated Beach House and Sigur Ros albums. But just like last month, the most-expected releases didn't make my final three. Here are my three favorite albums from last month.

3.) Royal Headache (Self-Titled)
It's tough to say there's anything more to Royal Headache's self-titled reissue than conveniently well-packaged, murky garage rock. There's an inherit vagueness that plagues most of the lo-fi structure of the genre, meddling much of the West Sydney punk vocalist known as 'Shogun.' But despite the near-classic muffled choke of vocals, you can get an easy sense that there's more style thrown into the album than what the lo-fi template originally offered. Songs like "Down the Lane" and "Distant and Vague," despite following a fuzz-rush of garage punk tracks, stick to a soulful idea, sounding as eternally sweet as the other songs filter their vigor. The attachment is there, despite only 26 minutes of endurance to the album's more endearing finishers, culminating with "Honey Joy," the most sincere the band has ever sounded.

2.) Japandroids - Celebration Rock

There's a total vibrancy that comes with the exhausting youth that is Japandroids. Two men, Brian King and drummer David Prowse, sound bigger than themselves, parlaying echoed chorus in between energetic crashes, as they had on their previous release Post-Nothing. But with Celebration Rock (Insound), an album that follows much of the same structure (eight tracks, youthful sentiments), everything begins to resonate a little more. The fury is more clear, the emotions more bright and earnest. But what made Japandroids so profound in 2009 is the same in 2012; unhinged, accessible, and flourishing with potential.

1.) El-P - Cancer For Cure
It's not simply the verses for EL-P (Jaime Meline) that do him justice anymore, or since his last studio album, 2007's I'll Sleep When You're Dead. There's a chasm of industrial technique behind his Brooklyn-centric diatribes, not merely settling for dead-end typical hip-hop production. With the album's first half, culminating with all-star standout "Tougher Colder Killer" featuring Killer Mike and Despot, Cancer For Cure (Insound) kills as much with eye-popping verses as it does with claustrophobic metal beats. There's so much packed together within the first six tracks, that if it had stopped it there it would almost seem acceptable. But the songs continue to trek with sophistication unreal to the rest of modern hip-hop, spilling mind-out-of-matter lines from the alter egos that we, and El-P, understand.

Albums of the Month: April 2012

Albums of the Month - April 2012

With festival season underway, and the full spring and summer catalog of new material getting coming out, April was another solid month. My #1 album may not be a surprise to you guys right now, but you shouldn't be surprised if it's one of the year's best overall. Here's my favorite three albums from last month.

3.) Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action At a Distance
It should be noted before hand that not only Spooky Action At a Distance (Insound), but every album on this month's list ended up beating out the #1 contender coming in; Jack White's Blunderbuss. And while the album was all-in-all, good, it failed to capture my attention and eagerness to replay quite like this and the other two albums did.

The second official album in Lockett Pundt's, Deerhunter guitarist, solo catalog, Spooky Action At a Distance often sounds in line with the best off the latter band. Pundt, who does his fair share of sonic experimentation with the Bradford Cox-led outfit, leads a more subtle guitar-driven set of tracks paired with minimal atmospheric playback; short echoes, underlying noise interference, and the like. But rarely does the 10 track album veer into unreasonable territory. Lotus Plaza, as a whole, plays with captivating, if not simplified elements, creating material that comes off as both outwardly catchy and demanding.

2.) BADBADNOTGOOD - BBNG2
The frequency of jazz albums - modern or retro - making any noise on this site is below the bare minimum. I stick, usually, to what I like, finding a comfortable niche to fill in the daily articles and pieces on Twitter and Facebook. Maybe that's why BADBADNOTGOOD's BBNG2 comes off as so invigorating and new for me. The hip-hop jazz trio, on this completely free album, rework a selection of notable tracks, including Kanye West's "Flashing Lights" and the James Blake-inspired cover of Feist's "Limit To Your Love," adding lively extended flair to each piece. The band, all relatively young, blast through their tracks with a calculated fury, bass and drums heavy. It's a brash, fitting reputation for a band that continues to gain recognition through the hip hop community, and earning more of a spotlight for their inspiring live performances. BBNG2 may not launch the group into a pantheon of modern hit makers (and more than likely, won't), but it gives modern music fans a much fairer and more palatable introduction into something that often gets brushes off.

1.) Death Grips - The Money Store
There's a visceral shock that comes from the first beat drop in "Get Got," the opener to Death Grips' second album The Money Store (Insound). Its chaotic mashing, only further intensified by the glorified tenacity of MC Ride, an unconventional rapper in the most plaintive sense. From then on, the rest of the album blows by you on a stretch of blistering, nerve-wracking tracks that bounce off of rap's comfortable norms. The beats are nauseously heavy, dripping with altered effects that give Death Grips their "punk rap" title. But The Money Store fails to fit anywhere, cruising in a flurry of creative blending and mashing of punk, rap, and electronica. It stands out, convincingly, not only among the crowd of records released so far in 2012, but among much of what rap has seen in the past few years. The unhinged fury of tracks like "The Fever (Aye Aye)" and "Hustle Bones" are almost obscene at times, and still eye opening on repeat. It's, without question, the best thing I've heard all year.

Wednesday Bears: Albums of the Month - March 2012

Albums of the Month - March 2012

After hitting a snag in January and seemingly going through the motions last month, March exploded. Quality albums from big names like Odd Future and Tanlines, alongside some unknown entities really made gave a lot of optimism for the remainder of 2012. Number one may not be a surprise for some of you, but the month gave us a lot of unexpected gems. Here are my favorite three.

3.) The Men - Open Your Heart

Distilled and aggressive, Open Your Heart (Insound) spills out half chaotically, half practically. The New York four-piece's sound goes through like aging punk veterans, still stout enough to seem destructive, but fluid enough to displace garage punk's DIY side. It's hard not to love The Men here, who find a median to blend all the laborious elements of clever alternative rock without flipping over a boring pass. In effect, the record sounds like it could be from anywhere between 1987 to 1995, but maybe that's part of the brilliance here - reverence without falling over itself trying to sound like Husker Du.

2.) Chromatics - Kill For Love

Luckily, we were able to hear all of Kill For Love a little before the month actually ended, so that qualifies it for the list. Blippy and atmospheric, Chromatics find their niche in Euro post-wave, with subtle instrumental effects coursing over harmonizing romanticism. It's what gave the band a good amount of hype long, long ago in 2007 with Night Drive. The long delay, however, allowed the group to create a huge amount of material - 90 minutes in fact on the new double-album - full of bright, electric, indie pop that remains startlingly consistent.

1.) The Shins - Port of Morrow

If you follow me on Twitter, this can't be a surprise. There wasn't any album scheduled for release before April of this year that had nearly as much of hype as The Shins return after a five-year absence, especially after the release of the heavy favorite lead single "Simple Song." The reformed James Mercer project sounds affectionate, although slightly less experimental than the group's previous three albums, but is so perfectly crafted and polished that there isn't any desire for it. Mercer sounds more genuine than he ever has on Port of Morrow (Insound), crafting blissful harmony between his usually impeccable song-writing. Particular cuts like "It's Only Life" stand out, and will be one of the sweetest damn songs you'll hear all year. The delay may have been too long for original material, but if all that time means we get something this good, then it'll always be worth it.

Albums of the Month - February 2012

Albums of the Month - February 2012

There's an ounce of guilt here, never completing what I considered to be the best albums of January. Part apathy, part neglect, and part of no albums really capturing my attention, January 2012 is forgotten. But rather than tread on the mistakes, I'd rather just get back to normal and act like it never happened. So, it never did. And here are my three favorite albums from February.

3. Islands - A Sleep & A Forgetting
There's no sense in cuing in on the Islands sound anymore. Every album since the 2006 debut Return to the Sea is an offshoot of Nick Thorburn's most memorable experiment with The Unicorns in the early 2000s, in some distorted way. Yet collectively, A Sleep & A Forgetting stands out as Thorburn's most cohesive output in the past six years, stringing charmingly underscored songs - all of which could be theoretically packaged as singles. There's nothing cognitively outlandish here, unlike the aforementioned Unicorns' single LP Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?, but there doesn't have to be to admire the solid consistency of it all.

The Islands - A Sleep & A Forgetting (Insound)

2. Frankie Rose - Interstellar
Something about Frankie Rose always screamed bigger. Yet, Interstellar doesn't lampoon her name forward as one of pop's up-and-coming stars, but something more comfortable on its own. Her history is well-documented, being a former member of Crystal Stilts, Vivian Girls, and Dum Dum Girls, but with her excellent solo output, somehow completely separating herself from her past groupings.

She does sound bigger, still, without launching herself too far out, often finding herself more comfortable in Cure-like synths and splitting echoing harmonies. What results is something that ends up being far more personable than those aforementioned groups, especially on tracks like "Pair of Wings," where we think of Rose more as person than a girl-band character. And in the end, we wind up wanting to know more about her.

Frankie Rose - Interstellar (Insound)

1. Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It
Truth behind it, Perfume Genius' Put Your Back N 2 It, despite the otherwise stupid album title, is the only record to truly stand out for me last month. The soft piano interludes, cosmic wherewithal, and folk renaissance vocal styles of Mike Hadreas make the listener forget the wholly tragic inspiration behind the album, touching on domestic abuse, death, drugs, and the every day love loss that human intervention seems to inspire. It endears as well, without strangling itself with the heavy subjects, because Handreas has figured out how to make those common tragic elements beautiful, if not subtle.

Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It (Insound)

Albums of the Month - November 2011

Albums of the Month - November 2011

Only one month remains before our annual (now expanded) end of the year lists. But for now, here's my three favorite albums for the month of November.

3. Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream
Parts messy punk interludes, part downtrodden midnight white boy blues, Carrion Crawler/The Dream is the most recent joyful (and mysterious) jab by Thee Oh Sees at a genre they seem to patent. There's a casual knuckle-splitting feeling throughout the album, particularly in the first half with gems like "Contraption/Soul Desert" which very often forgets to find itself, in the very best way.

Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream (Insound)

2. A$AP Rocky - LIVELOVEA$AP
Really? The super-drug addled breakout New York mixtape from a guy who has a dollar sign in his name? Unfair perception. No one's jumping out saying the A$AP Rocky's LIVELOVEA$AP is the best rap album of the year, because it isn't. He doesn't match the visceral thrill of Kendrick Lamar's Section.80 or Big K.R.I.T.'s Returnof4eva, or the utter fantastic weirdness of Danny Brown's XXX, but there's always something to be made of the case of a rapper that just does the part right. No mask of fake attitude, no presumptions, damning and memorable beats (constructed by Clams Casino), and a kid who has true potential. It may come a little empty for some, but for others, this is how modern rap should be built.

A$AP Rocky - LIVELOVEA$AP (Download)

1. Atlas Sound - Parallax
If Brandford Cox's second prominent project, Atlas Sound, is confusing anybody with Deerhunter, Cox's more well-known outfit, don't worry. As the years and sheer volume of Cox's work continue to pile on, the collective sounds begin to aesthetically merge: subtle strings of synthetic noise effortless in the background of his echoing (yet quiet) vocal style, letting his songwriter play the forefront. "Te Amo," one of Parallax's more stellar outputs, sounds particularly akin to the final track on Deerhunter's previous album Halcyon Digest, "He Would Have Laughed." From then on out, however, the album builds itself as a particular outlier, collectively unique to the new, crafty Bradford Cox. The album's final calls drift into a dark, ethereal sound, that is until you hear "Lightworks," the most upbeat thing in the man's endless catalog. One of which will continue to grow and perfect itself.

Atlas Sound - Parallax (Insound)

Albums of the Month - October 2011

Albums of the Month - October 2011

Like we started last month, here's how I rank the best albums for the month of October.

3. Real Estate - Days
Since 2009, with the Ridgewood, NJ band's self-titled debut, Real Estate seemed destined for Pitchfork-aura supremacy. With Days, an intrepid trek through the crew's soft lo-fi exteriors, Real Estate confirm they were never a group for the truly visceral at heart. There is, instead, a truly multi-layered scope to the songs, like in the eerily accurate "Wonder Years," with its patterning guitars and soft lulls transgressing seamlessly into the next track - a clever pattern you don't even need 10 songs to notice.

Real Estate - Days (Stream at Insound)

2. Tom Waits - Bad As Me
Tom Waits is in an invincible pantheon. Everything he touches turns into dirty Zatarains gold. With Bad As Me, Waits' first true studio album since 2004's Real Gone, Waits new work is a snarling, spit-stomping (an idea that only exists in Waits World, the most depressing theme park in town) anthem wedged in between the dreary soul four decades into his storied career. There are very, very few, if any, that can touch the level of poetic drag, again and again, that Waits so easily sneers at.

Tom Waits - Bad As Me

1. M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
In some ways, M83 was due. It's not as if Anthony Gonzalez's previous efforts weren't good - they were, very good in fact. But Hurry Up, We're Dreaming had a varying degree of hype surrounding it after Gonzalez three-year in between period. And with everyone's first listen to "Midnight City," the double-album accrued an even higher potential appeal. And what we have is a daunting, 74-minute slow climb of M83-esque haunting beauty immersed in the soft, ethereal atmosphere that was, in a way, expected. Going through each side it's easy so see, for me at least, why it's #1 for October.

M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming (Stream at Insound)

M83 - Midnight City

Monday Bears: Albums of the Month - September 2011

Albums of the Month - September 2011

New segment!

At the end of every month forever until I inevitably die - maybe - Bears and Bullets will run an Albums of the Month column. Right now, we'll take it easy early on with three top albums, but hopefully the list will continually expand.

September 2011 marked the release of a handful of anticipated releases, many of which collided on the same day; September 13, including: A.A. Bondy, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Das Racist, Mates of State, Memoryhouse, St. Vincent, and Wild Flag. That being said, the month was marred by disappointing releases as well. So, after all, what were this months standouts?

3. Four Tet - Fabriclive 59
Kieren Hebden, better known under his Four Tet moniker, released Fabriclive not as a studio set, but as part of the Fabric series, that will conclude at the end of this year. It begins as a generally mum post-90s trip-hop push colliding with the soft undertone of crowd noise, which to my knowledge has some sort of purpose. After the easy play-in, it courses through modern-Euro house and then seamlessly through more crowd loops into pure Four Tet-sound. It's that endearing core of the mix that sticks out further than many of September's other notable outputs.

Fabriclive 59 Stream

2. Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
What are Girls? The super-hyped San Francisco buzzband don't fit into the 2011 mold quite as well as their acclaim would seem. Upon the release of Father, Son, Holy Ghost's first single "Vomit," it would seem that they were wedged into some hybrid Beach Boys that are much more sensible to the Jesus and Mary Chain crowd. Confusing? It should be.

Regardless, there's something incredibly endearing about Father, Son, Holy Ghost that doesn't seem like faux-wave lo-fi that frequents the Pacific coastline. Those surf-sensibilities are there, but aren't juxtaposed as an overwhelming theme - letting Christopher Owens' songwriting take the necessary lead.

Father, Son, Holy Ghost Stream

1. Mastodon - The Hunter
The metal band I simply hype more so than any other marked the end of September with the release of The Hunter, an album which was received by some to be too far off a departure of the band's hard-nailed previous works. And, well, they aren't wrong. Tracks like "Curl of the Burl" and "The Hunter" are easily the most accessible in the band's catalog. For some, though, that as a detraction is in hindsight. The Hunter jabs through blinding, clenching numbers like "Spectrelight" while allowing itself to web a different pattern. For me, that puts in on top.

The Hunter Stream

Mastodon - Spectrelight