Foreign Born’s Person to Person remains a perennial summer favorite around these parts. Sadly, it does not look like we will be seeing a follow up to that record anytime soon. Secretly Canadian, the bands label, is reporting that the band will be going on indefinite hiatus as the members focus on other projects. As a parting gift, the guys have offered up a new song, their first since Person to Person. “Keep It In Mind” shakes and grows with the same spirited energy that made their album such a stand-by.
Everyone is busy saying what a great year it has been for music. Here is why…
15. The Antlers – Hospice mp3:The Antlers - Two 14. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains mp3:Cymbals Eat Guitars - And the Hazy Sea 13. Raekwon – Only Built for Cuban Linx Pt. 2 mp3:Raekwon - Catalina ft. Lyfe Jennings 12. The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa mp3:The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa ft. Ezra Koenig 11. Sunset Rubdown – Dragonslayer mp3:Sunset Rubdown - Paper Lace 10. The XX – S/T mp3:The XX - Intro Late last night I was playing this record and someone mentioned how they didn’t like it much at all, that it made them feel like they were tripping out. It seems the things my friend didn’t like about the XX are exactly the same things that make me fall in with love them. Their dark, penetrating tones have a tendency to probe deep into the back of your mind. But even more important than the actual sounds are the spaces in between; The XX let you fill in the blanks, which is often more revealing than anything someone else could write.
9. Local Natives – Gorilla Manor mp3:Local Natives - Wide Eyes This is sort of cheating because Gorilla Manor has only been released in the UK, but I think it would be crazy to leave them out considering how much I have listened to this record. A fantastic synthesis of contemporary influences (see Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Yeasayer) Local Natives hit all the right chords while making a sound all their own. If I had the patience to create a year-end song list both “Wide Eyes” and “Sun Hands” would be jockeying for two of the top spots. Watch out for these guys in 2010. 8. Le Loup – Family mp3:Le Loup - Sherpa My go to Sunday morning record. Often dismissed as Animal Collective acolytes, Le Loup have produced a surprising and wonderful record. Produced in a cabin in North Carolina, Family almost feels like it is covered in dirt and earth, like it was organically grown using just sunshine and water. On a slow Sunday, it can take you out of the city and back to that Cabin out in the wilderness. Plus, as an added bonus this Family has roots in Washington, D.C.
7. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion/ Fall Be Kind (EP) mp3:Animal Collective - What Would I Want? Sky I certainly don’t have anything new to add to the Animal Collective discussion so I will keep this one relatively short. Deep down I like Fall Be Kind more than MPP, but it is an EP so I just lumped them both in together. It is hard to argue that any band has had more of an impact on the indie music scene in the past couple of years and neither of these records do anything to change that. 6. Bear In Heaven – Beast Rest Forth Mouth mp3:Bear in Heaven - Ultimate Satisfaction When I listen to Beast Rest Forth Mouth I am shocked that nobody figured this formula out before: The guitars of anthemic-rock combined with the synthesizers of electronic. To quote Zoolander: “It’s so simple!” But it also helps that Bear in Heaven did it perfectly the first time around. Songs like “Ultimate Satisfaction” and “Lovesick Teenagers” expand and grow in your mind until the point where it gets hard to separate your own thoughts from the music. My favorite album to play while walking around the city or riding the subway, its like living in a movie with your own personal soundtrack.
5. Foreign Born – Person to Person mp3:Foreign Born - Blood Oranges My most played record of 2009! The afro-pop influences draw you in immediately and never seem to let go. This is a sunny, energetic record, but with a dark, meaty underbelly holding it all together. If the second half of Person to Person punched like the first, this would have moved much farther up this list. 4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix mp3:Phoenix - Rome I have yet to meet a person who didn’t like this album – great for parties or sitting around hung over on a Sunday morning. As much as I appreciate a band or album that forces you to expand your sonic horizons, it is refreshing to see a band perfecting their craft and writing songs that are simple and undeniable.
3. Woods – Songs of Shame mp3:Woods - Military Madness (Graham Nash Cover) I bought two albums on vinyl this year. One was the number one album on this list and the other was Songs of Shame. Of all the lo-fi-what-have-you that came out this year Woods was the most immediately appealing and continues to impress on every consecutive listen. Lead vocalist Jeremy Earl founded the Woodsist label in 2006 and has since helped launch the careers of fellow rockers Wavves, Ganglians, and Crystal Stilts, among others. Listening to Songs of Shame makes clear why Earl has such a knack for spotting new talent: Real recognize real. Also, my favorite album cover of the year.
2. Fever Ray – Fever Ray mp3:Fever Ray - Triangle Walks When “If I Had a Heart” first surfaced in early 2009 a lot of people thought it was too gloomy and foreboding, that the rest of the album wouldn’t have mass appeal. But Fever Ray’s eerily detached persona turned out to be its greatest quality. An album that was originally mistaken as cold turned out to be overwhelmingly personal. Buried underneath layers of icy tones and distorted voices is a warm humanity. Karen Dreijer Anderson is a master of probing human emotions with alien-like detachment. It is weird, but it works. Fever Ray also wins points for its originality: it sounds like nothing else out there and spawned several of the years best music videos.
1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest mp3:Grizzly Bear - While You Wait For the Others It seems odd that the album I was most impressed this year is the hardest to write about. Perhaps it is testament to the untold beauty contained within the 12 tracks that make up Veckatimest. That, or I am just a shitty writer. For the sake of argument, we will go with the former. I must have played this album 20 times before it was even released (guilty). Since, it has not been my most played record, but still manages to elicit the same sort of excitement I got upon first listen. I think you can tell a lot about a band from the way they perform. When I saw Grizzly Bear play in D.C. they abandoned the traditional drummer-in-back set-up and stood all four in a row along the stage; a poetic metaphor for the type of genuine collaboration that it must take to produce such a flawless album.
A few weeks ago I wrote about my current obsession with afro-pop inspired music being made in America. In addition to that Highlife song that I crowned my early 2009 favorite, the other afro-leaning group that has been on repeat around here is Fool’s Gold. The LA group features members of Glasser, Foreign Born and a few other staples of the West Coast scene. According to Itunes I have already listened to their song, “Suprise Hotel”, 16 times since stumbling across it earlier this summer. That noodling guitar riff always seems to pick me up (although I find the video slightly unsettling for some reason; check it after the jump). I hadn’t heard anything else from them until Memory Tapes posted a fantastic remix of their song “Nadine” today on his We’re Tapes blog.
All this hype is building nicely to Fool’s Gold release of their self-titled debut album on September 29 from IAMSOUND. Also, if you haven’t given Foreign Born’s record a proper listen yet, theres no time like the present.
I guess all weeks are technically “good” for music, but this Tuesday was particularly good for new releases. Grizzly Bear endorsed, brit-pop loving, LA quartet,Foreign Borndropped their second album, Person to Person, today and it is quite fantastic.
White Denim also released their second full length today in the UK and it is a raucous good time. I actually haven’t gotten a hold of the full thing yet because it require euros (are they not from Austin?), but the songs I have heard are as loud, diverse and fun as to be expected from a WD album.
And last, but certainly not least Dragonslayer hit shelves today courtesy of Spencer Krug and the rest of the Sunset Rubdowncrew. Thanks to a nice little Insound promo, I have gotten to spin this thing for almost a month now and it certainly has not gotten old. “Nightingale/December Song” is in contention for my favorite song of the year. Check the 10/10 review from Drowned In Sound.
In between repeated spins of Veckatimest and securing tickets to see Grizzly Bear at the 930 club in June, I spent some time perusing the GB blog; you know, just to get the full immersion experience. It seems Ed and crew have decided to move beyond just making great music and into the world of promotion, as well. On the site they debut the new Foreign Born song “Vacationing People”. At this point I am pretty much willing to defer all my musical tastes to Ed because he seems to have a pretty good grasp on the whole thing, so needless to say I think it’s a good song… But in all seriousness, I do really dig this jam and can see why Foreign Born has earned a fan in Grizzly Bear. “Vacationing People” is just the perfect amount of pop to kick off a nice sunny, warm weekend in the district.
“Vacationing People” will appear on Foreign Born’s upcoming Person to Person (everyone wants to be a part of the miracle).
