The Top 25 Tracks of 2013: 1-10

Alright here we go. 10 to 1. 0 to 60.  Back to front. Moms and dads. 

(Again not all of these were on Spotify so you'll have to click the links for the ones in blue.)

• 10. Nils Frahm - Says - Brian Eno's Big Ship used to be my go-to for huge, epic sounding ambient that made any normal day seem like the last hours you would spend on Earth. Now Says has taken the torch on that one.

• 9. Close - My Way ft. Joe Dukie - Simple, short, and sweet. You don't need flashy effects when the core elements already sound so good. This one was on repeat for weeks.

• 8. Darkside – Golden Arrow - Darkside is Nicolas Jaar's new project with his friend Dave on guitar. Jaar is a master of dynamics and uncommon builds. Add in some choice guitar licks and you have one juicy piece of music. Let this one fill up the room. The video is pretty badass too.
• 7. Tessela - Nancy’s Pantry - This one is unruly.  It sounds like nothing else in 2013.  It feels underground in that it is so different from your typical dance music formula and yet it is eminently danceable.  I see it being an anthem to a huge basement party for the Occupy crowd.
• 6. Foxygen – No Destruction - Sure you could track down and buy a bunch of exquisite vintage gear and hire some knowledgeable producer to record your would-be 60's psychedelic album, but at some point you'd need to play those instruments and make real music. What sets Foxygen apart is their ability to master both - the music and the sound. If someone played this for me blind I would not be surprised at all if they said it was recorded in '68. This is really a placeholder for the whole album, No Destruction is just one of the more fun, whacky tracks off of it.
• 5. Disclosure – Help Me Lose My Mind ft. London Grammar - I'm not one for singing along to songs, but your better believe I was testing out the pipes on this one.
• 4. Dirty Projectors – Socialites (Joe Goddard Remix) - Joe Goddard consistently puts together well-rounded tracks that make you want to play them over and over. The muted intro and steady build made this one my go-to for leaving the office and re-entering the madness that is New York City.
• 3. Jon Hopkins – Open Eye Signal - Hopkins has spent most of his career creating moody, ambient albums rather than dance music and you can tell. The songs on Immunity are long explorations into simple grooves that are in no rush to pull any gimmicky bass drops or cameo appearances. They kind of just grab you by the ears and say, 'hey look at this.' That being said, there is a lot of energy here and the album is a ton of fun to listen to while you yourself are in motion - on the train, running, biking whatever. Open Eye Signal captures that well and made a lot of Best Of lists as a result.
• 2. Jim James – State of the Art (A.E.I.O.U) - This song came out around the time New York was dealing with the reality of Hurricane Sandy's devastation. It was insane. Everywhere below 39th St. in Manhattan, which might as well be the center of the modern universe, was dark - unable to function. ("I mean it, the powers goin out). People lost so much: TVs, rugs, whole homes, tragically even fellow family members. When you go through something that traumatic it makes you more grateful for the things that truly matter in life. You start to question all the things that you thought were important ("state of the art technology, supposed to make for better living"). What does it give us anyway? ("Are we better human beings?"). State of the Art felt like someone pulling back the curtains reminding us that we are merely human despite our best efforts to distract ourselves into thinking we are more.

• 1. Rhye - Open - This one speaks for itself.

Thanks for reading folks. Godspeed in 2014.

image: forgotten-hopes

The Top 25 Tracks of 2013: 11-25

This blog was never designed to be a music news blog, but if I don't post my favorite tracks from 2013 as a compilation then they will never get posted in a soundtrack-style playlist at all.  So without further ado, here are my Top 25 Tracks of 2013 - the songs that rose above the noise, pushed boundaries, and made me excited about music again.

(Not all of these were on Spotify so you'll have to click the links for the ones in blue.)

• 11. Bibio – A Tout A L’Heure - Bibio has always had a great texture to his music, but it wasn't until A Tout A L'Heure that he managed bring excellent vocals into the mix. This one is going to make every vacation playlist I make from here on out.
• 12. Phosphorescent - The Quotidian Beasts - Call me crazy for not putting Song for Zula in this slot, but Quotidian is really the one on this album that does it for me. The guitar line that holds it all together, filled with attitude and experience, is one that doesn't happen so often in music nowadays. It's an ambitious tune and even Phosphorescent barely has the years under their belt to pull it off... but they do... and it's awesome.
• 13. Blondes - Andrew - Swisher was my favorite electronic album of the year, because it was made for the club, but could easily be dissected by a group of intellectuals over a bottle of wine. Andrew is representative of Blondes' slick attitude and knack for the adventurous. DJs use this to separate the early stage of the night from gametime. You're not messing around when you throw this on.
• 14. Juana Molina - Eras - The guitar here really reminds me of early Radiohead and I love it.
• 15. Sophie - Blipp - Imagine a DJ dropping this in the middle of a house set? Everyone would lose it. It's so different, but immediately likeable. I imagine people absolutely breaking it down, kind of like the dance scene in Two Lovers.
• 16. Courtney Barnett - Avant Gardener - Talk about a head trip. It's rare to find a song where the vibe between the lyrics and the instruments meet up so well. Barnett pulls off the straightforward indifference to her own anxiety problems so well that someone should probably call a doctor.
• 17. Toro y Moi – Rose Quartz - the best build of the year.
• 18. Burial – Rival Dealer - Just before the end of the year Burial released the Rival Dealer EP composed of three cinematic tracks that surprised pretty much everyone for their dramatic departure from his slow, sparse dubstep history. Hiders is a close second here, but Dealer wins, because it drops a relentless jungle beat out of nowhere. Not only is it a surprise in the song itself, but in the context of Burial's career no one saw that coming. So to hear it for the first time was truly mindblowing.
• 19. Daft Punk - Doin’ It Right ft. Panda Bear - Who knew Panda Bear and Daft Punk would sound so good together? Random Access Memories is cool in that before Daft Punk would just sample a vocal like this, but here they actually collaborated on new material with leading musicians from a couple different genres and eras. Kind of refreshing in the age of digital everything.
• 20. Almunia - Wrapped In Your Hair - My new favorite roadtrip album. The guitar line around 3 minutes gets me every time.
• 21. Motor City Drum Ensemble - Send A Prayer pt. 2 - throw it on some good speakers and pour yourself a drink.  What a good track to play in the middle of a classy party. Just people floating around from room to room checking out the scene. Sheesh. The double bass beat is so damn confident it’s sexy.
• 22. White Denim - Pretty Green - Sometimes I feel like new indie bands hide behind their trendy lo-fi fuzz effects, too afraid to play it to us straight.  Not White Denim.  They want you to hear what’s going on and that is a very good thing, because these guys have serious chops. 
• 23. CFCF - Beyond Light - The Last of the Mohicans meets Mission to Mars.
• 24. Eluvium - Rain Gently - Rain Gently is Eluvium doing what he does best, slowly creating introspective atmospheres that start out as songs and evolve into something much more.  It’s the sound of you having an epiphany. The title is downright corny though.
• 25. Finnebasen - Bella - You’re driving your red 1969 Ford Mustang Boss through the Nevada desert at night.  It was hard to leave but you had to.  Things would have never worked out between you two.  Have you really been driving all night? I guess so... the sun is about to come up.

1-10 will be posted later this week.

image: Fedrigoni Woodstock

MFNW - Day Four

Typhoon in Pioneer Square

Saturday
Explosions in the Sky
The Antlers
Typhoon
Eluvium

Portland's Living Room was the perfect setting to experience the instrumental post-rock of Explosions in the Sky and the big-picture ambient droning of Eluvium.  Pioneer Courthouse Square is a brick covered park in downtown Portland that is surrounded by skyscrapers and constant city life.  

If you bought a wristband to MusicFest NW you were able to go to every club show and one of the big three shows (Iron & Wine, Band of Horses and Explosions).  Having seen Band of Horses before (excellent) and being not so enthused about I&W's newest release I opted to see Explosions in the Sky again given the urban setting.  The fact that you had to put some thought into going to this show meant that everyone there really did want to see one of these bands.  You could tell this type of crowd could get into emotionally charged power chords and maybe even a Friday Night Lights episode or two.

Can you count how many people are wearing feathers in their caps?

I have been a big fan of Matthew Cooper's ambient releases as Eluvium for a long time.  Ambient music requires a certain setting and the listener to be in certain mood in order for it not to sound like overhyped nonsense.  Don't click on these links and expect to immediately "get it".  Don't even try to listen.  Instead I encourage you to listen to something like Indoor Swimming at the Space Station  as you go to sleep tonight.  Eluvium excels at transferring emotion and atmosphere into long pieces that truly transport the listener to a different level of consciousness.  Time seems to slow down and reality is observed rather than experienced.  I believe they call it "an out of body experience."
   Going to an ambient concert is bizarre in that nothing much happens in the way of visuals but yet there is an incredible layering of sound for your brain to process.  Eluvium's Matthew Cooper (Portland via Kentucky) came on stage in a humble manner, picked up his guitar and slowly hypnotized everyone in attendance.  It didn't make sense at first, but once he had looped a few guitar lines without you noticing, the streetcar that could be seen over the venue wall slowed down and the sun on the skyscrapers turned a little more orange as their shadows shifted to the right.  By the time Cooper finished Underwater It Glowed I had to shake my head to remember where I was.  He played a few gentle piano pieces like Radio Ballet that didn't quite hit home for me like they do on the album.  He ended by looping a dark, sustained piano tone to the point where it absorbed every other sound. 
  And then it stopped.

Typhoon huddle up before the show.

Oregon native Typhoon was next up.  Kyle Morton could put on an interesting singer-songwriter show all by himself but he takes it to the next level by inviting 12 or 13 ragtag musicians to bounce through his serious harmonies with him.  I was getting hints of Arcade Fire.  Two synchronized drummers made the live show pretty fun to watch and the band has a clear chemistry on stage as if they're delighted to be together let alone playing to a big audience.
   The Antlers play some version of post-rock that I never care to listen to again.  Too many bad hairdos and I'm sure there's some street performing drummer that could have done a better job in the percussion department.  Although there was a cool moment when a fire truck drove by with its siren blaring and surprisingly, instead of ruining the music it went perfectly with the sparse, distorted guitars and moody keys.  

Explosions in the Sky playing that one song where the running back beats that one tackle only to turn around and see his girlfriend necking with the new kid in the bleachers.

The guys in Explosions have clearly been seeing some success.  They know which songs people have played on repeat late at night while they waited for sunrise or walked by that one swing set.  First Breath After Coma and Your Hand In Mine definitely steal the show.  They also have somewhat of a light show that adds to the "epic" effect.  

Seeing them again reminds me why they were so cool to begin with.  They play conventional rock instruments in a different manner entirely.  Instead of simply picking a rock beat, drummer Chris Hrasky will do a build up on the cymbals to set the scene and then fire off machine gun snares.  Basic song structures are nowhere to be found and stories are told through quiet periods (there were literally a few moments of complete silence) and suspenseful, quick passages.  Long before Friday Night Lights hit the small screen EITS evoked the stark desolation of small Texas towns (its home state).  Yet despite this bleak setting their is a sense that change can occur, that there are bigger players at work here....that there is hope.
  

Musicfest Northwest wraps up under a harvest moon.

Images: Noel

Beautiful Oregon - A Roadtrip Mixtape

I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown; for going out, I found, was really going in.
- John Muir

This past year I have been fortunate enough to live in the great state of Oregon.  Portland has an intoxicating vibe of idealism and creativity, but for me the best part of the state has been the unparalleled access to stunning nature areas.  Nowhere else can you get dense old-growth forests, fog-drenched coastal cliffs, clear blue lakes and majestic mountains all within a few hours drive.  The further you get from the city the more it seems like Mother Nature is the one in charge and man is merely permitted to stay on the property.

Of course in order to reach the wilderness you are required to traverse narrow, winding roads where the only sign of civilization is the skeleton of an old barn and a Datsun pickup with weeds growing through it. 

            And on these roads you need music.

Below are many of the tried and tested songs that have made many of these roadtrips special.  Hopefully you can find a way to enjoy them too.  I tried my best to capture the vast and epic quality of Oregon's landscapes.  The first half is all about the open road and the excitement of what is to come.  And the second half is for the night ride home.  Nothing but headlights on the road.  All the windows are down and everyone in the car is trying catch a glimpse of the moon in between the trees. 

  If you want the full experience check out my flickr page for some of the
year's better pictures while you listen.

1. Paul Simon - Dazzling Blue
   There is a certain spaciousness to this song - like there could be so much more going on, but he keeps it simple to great effect.
2. Junip - In Every Direction
   Jose Gonzalez's side project is not to be missed.
3. My Morning Jacket - Circuital
   Great songwriting, americana vibe and raw power make MMJ the obvious go-to on a roadtrip (at least in the States).
4. The Wood Brothers - Luckiest Man
5. The Benders - I Can't Wait
6. The Clean - In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul
   This is the best song I've heard all year.  I must have been asleep at the wheel, because the Clean have been around since '78.   Very excited for their new release, Mister Pop, on 9/8.  They remind me of The Waterboys. 
7. Tapes 'n Tapes - Freak Out
   Great chorus.  Not to mention a clever video.  I gave these guys another shot after Outside called them one of the finest garage rock outfits around.
8. Phish - Golden Age (TV on the Radio cover, Gorge Ampitheatre 8.6.2011)
   TV on the Radio got the Phish treatment at the Gorge this month.  Personally I think they do it better than the original.  They tease out the subdued funk and know how to make the chorus really hit.
9. Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon - Middle of the Road
   Suntan lotion. Shades. Snacks - check.
10. Eric Clapton & Steve Winwood - Can't Find My Way Home
11. Bon Iver - HoloceneIn part named after a Portland club.
    
12. Great Lake Swimmers - River's Edge
    Great Lake Swimmers know how to set an atmosphere.  If the lyrics alone don't get you, the way Tony Dekker sings them will.
13. Bibio - Saint Christopher
    Bibio knows what I'm talking about.  His video for The Ephemeral Bluebell was filmed along the Oregon Coast Highway.
14. Geotic - Beaming Husband
    Will Wiesenfeld of Bath's has an ambient side project called Geotic.  Definitely some gems in his catalog so far.  Get them for free here.

 

images: Noel