Now entering
the Top 20 of 2013:
20.
Best Coast
Fade Away EP
(Jewel City)
First of
all, this EP release corrects a huge wrong.
Best Coast’s offering for Record Store
Day back in April was a 7” with two excellent new songs and it would’ve
been a mistake to have them relegated to limited edition vinyl only
status. Fade Away corrects this easily by placing “Fear of My Identity” and
the super standout “Who Have I Become?” in the middle of this collection. This is also their first release on their own
label Jewel City.
Now that the information business is out of the way, Best Coast’s
latest is exactly what I needed to hear from them. After hooking me with their debut album, Crazy For You, a couple of years ago,
their second long player was only okay, so it’s refreshing to hear Beth
Cosentino bursting back onto the scene with her bright melodies and endlessly
catchy harmonies and such relatable words to sing along with. These seven songs though, unlike Crazy For You, are recorded with a
budget and a big sound like The Only
Place only not so stiff sounding.
These songs are injected with a full band this time, fiery energy and a
sound that isn’t so far removed from the pop rock (sans guitar solos) of Cheap Trick. Cosentino’s still singing about loneliness,
heartbreak and being uncertain, but she does it with such an effortless
ease. Her ability to turn dark emotions
that always feel complex and impossible to escape into simple straight forward
words is remarkable and most welcome. It
doesn’t matter if we’re teenagers, twenty something’s like her, or old like me,
we all feel these feelings she expresses, so it’s nice to have someone who
expresses them so well for us and to a rocking soundtrack to boot! The two opening songs “This Lonely Morning”
and “I Wanna Know” are both high fidelity energetic recordings of songs that
could’ve easily fit into her debut, but it’s the aforementioned “Who Have I
Become?” that feels like it could go on and on with 100 conversational verses
of life and relationship confusion that never get old – despite what she says
(“And now I’m tired, oh so tired of this story being told / when did I wake up
and suddenly my soul had grown so old?”).
Meanwhile, the title track and “Baby I’m Crying” fulfill the slow dance
songs with big sounding echoing drums and low end bass guiding us through more
heartbreak. The closing “I Don’t Know
How” opens up with an early 60s girl group doo wop beat that hints at the Shangri-La’s, before bursting out into
a full blown up beat rock song and those huge repetitive vocals driving home
the confusion of all. Feeling lost and
alone may have never sounded so exciting.
More of this please!!
19.
Club 8
Above the City
(Labrador)
I’ve always
taken Swedish duo Club 8 for granted.
For the last 15 or so years, since I first heard them, they’ve occasionally
released really enjoyable pop records, which I’ve purchased, absorbed and then
slowly let them drift from my mind until a few years later when another album
appears. I’ve never written about them,
and for some unknown reason, I’ve rarely shared their music with others. Well, this has to change. Club 8’s eighth album, Above the City, comes on the heels of their most surprising album,
2010’s The People’s Record, an album
that somehow brought in all kinds of varied world music rhythms and beats and
melded it all into their sugar sweet Swedish electronic pop without losing
their identity. Sometimes this worked
brilliantly, while other moments were a little sketchy. But who can argue with the idea of throwing a
celebration for the world in the wake of what seems like pretty dark
times? This came on the heels of my
personal favorite of theirs, The Boy Who
Couldn’t Stop Dreaming (2007), where the duo of songwriter and
multi-instrumentalist (not to mention label chief for Labrador Records and leader of multiple bands) Johan Angergård and smooth
vocalist Karolina Komstedt perfected their winsome and friendly dance pop and
created a warm and comforting album that captured the title’s dreaming
reference with precision. This current
record, on the other hand, finds them re-embracing their electronic roots and
making the boldest songs of their long career.
Aside from the excellent, mysterious and dark opener, “Kill Kill Kill,”
which wouldn’t sound out of place on Still
Corners’ debut horror film soundtrack Creatures
of an Hour or in a David Lynch movie, there are many bright moments of huge
choruses and bass heavy dance numbers.
“Stop Taking My Time” comes on strong with a dominating rhythm vibration
and the breathy Komstedt’s most upfront and strong vocal performance. Similarly, the heavy bass of “Into Air”
reminds of mildly of a late 80s Depeche
Mode musically (“Behind the Wheel” maybe), but instead with a dreamy vocal
performance spelling out the wounds of a broken relationship. “You Could Be Anybody” is another classic
addictive dance number, which wouldn’t sound out of place on any of their
albums. The two lighter than air 80s pop
numbers “A Small Piece of Heaven,” (think of Book of Love’s breathy “uh huh” answer from “Boy” atop a calypso
inspired beat) and the reinvention of Madonna’s
“Holiday” with “I Don’t Want to Grow Old” are
both begging you to dance. Meanwhile,
“Run” comes on with big pounding percussion, an otherworldly monster howl, and
then a sing-a-long chorus that is danceable while attempting to find solace in
a lifetime of regrets by simply running from problems (“Fuck it baby, we’ve got
nothing left to prove”). The final two
songs on the album, “Less Than Love” and “Straight as an Arrow,” also
incorporate these massive percussive beats and riffs stolen from classic rock
clichés, (especially the closer’s “We Will Rock You” motif), but are somehow
freshened by the incorporation of The
People’s Record influence of big vocal harmonies (“woah woahs”) that make
it easy to lose oneself completely into the songs. How this duo can maintain such a consistent
legacy while incorporating so many varied influences is beyond me, but as long
as they keep releasing inspired albums such as this every few years, I will
continue to listen. I suggest you do the
same.
18.
The House of Love
She Paints Words in Red
(Cherry Red)
There was a
time when the House of Love was my favorite band. They were the perfect bridge between my love
of the Smiths and the dreampop or
“shoegaze” that launched the 90s. The
fuzzy haze of their huge “Christine” was still imbued with the intricate
acoustic flourishes of the (other so-called) C86 bands (I am not a proponent of
these tags, but people generally know what I mean, so I feel stuck with them
sometimes), but absolutely alive with a unique beautiful dissonant buzz. Their 1988 debut was filled with inspired
songs that sounded wholly original, as did their scratchy second LP (the
Butterfly cover – recorded during their acrimonious split with guitarist Terry
Bickers). Bickers is an amazing
guitarist with a touch that reminds of the variety of dexterity of the lauded Johnny Marr, but it has been with the
laser sharp focus of Guy Chadwick’s songwriting that he has really shone. So after more than a decade of silence, the
group reformed (with 3 of the 4 original members), finally reuniting this tour
de force pairing. The initial result was
the uneven, but sometimes spectacular (“Gotta Be This Way”), Days Run Away. Now, out of nowhere, they’ve returned 8 years
later with another new album (their sixth).
She Paints Words in Red,
oddly, sounds most like the Bickers-less third self-titled album (known as Babe Rainbow). Much like that album, this is filled with a
more relaxed and pretty sound. The band
even revived and revamped the Babe-era
B-side (from “The Girl with the Loneliest Eyes” single) “Purple Killer Rose”
(re-titled “PKR”). That old song is
really the only one here that contains the old tension that drove those early
days, which is sadly missing. However,
it is so welcoming to hear their sound again.
Chadwick’s smooth vocals haven’t aged a bit, and the interplay of
guitars on the album’s opener, “A Baby Got Back on its Feet,” reminds us of
what this band is capable of. The
sprightly sounding “Hemingway” contains some of Chadwick’s biting lyrics, but
through the veil of Hemingway’s storied history. The straightforward ballad “Lost in the
Blues” is a fantastic piece chronicling the troubles of a broken-hearted
ruffian. This is a band that has grown
up and let go the tensions and bitterness of the past, but these songs are
still filled with heartbreak and regrets and the calmer sound reflects the
lessening of the blow of loss that comes with age and experience. This idea is best expressed in the spacious
closer “Eye Dream,” when Chadwick tells us he’s “tired of gnawing, dulling pain
/ drilling like rain / I sleep again / and heading for the top of yet another
stormy day / I just dream.” I dream that
these guys continue to grace us with their amazing songs and that one day I can
write a less awkward review.
17.
Spotlight kid
“Budge Up” (download)
“Sugar Pills” (download)
(Saint
Marie)
I’m still
learning a lot about this Nottingham six
piece. I first started reading about
them late last year (yes, I still learn about music by reading about it), when
their excellent Disaster Tourist was
released domestically in an expanded edition via fledgling Texas based so-called shoegaze label Saint Marie. This album definitely would’ve hit fairly
high on my Top 40 last year, if I had purchased it in time. It is full of those atmospheric layers of guitars
that I love so much, yet still pushed to the edge by a driving rhythm section
and no shortage of melody and hooks. So,
it was with great interest that I tracked down their two download singles this
year in lead up to their soon to be released 2014 album 10,000 Hours (just learning that this will be their third! Back to the shops for more research.). “Budge Up” was the first release to see the
light of day back in March. The single
comes with three remixes, but I chose to bypass and pick up the ‘single
edit.’ This song plays on their
strengths, as a hazy fog of beautiful noise hangs around the air, much like Slowdive perfected in this genre’s
heyday. However, what Spotlight Kid have
learned from those magical days is that what made those bands and sounds so
special wasn’t just the layers of feedback turned into majestic and stunning
noise, it was the fact that they brought actual songs and a serious ability to
rock. Like their contemporaries, the Joy Formidable, the History of Apple Pie and Cheatahs, Spotlight Kid take as much
from Slowdive as they do from Swervedriver,
or the earliest EPs from Moose. It’s what I’ve been waiting years to hear
again. Katty Heath’s dreamy vocals are a
perfect fit for their sound, but they are not too buried to hide what she’s
singing about – even though the chorus here is made up of dramatic
“do-do-do’s.” Meanwhile, “Sugar Pills”
takes a similar take to Ride’s 1992
classic “Leave Them All Behind” (which in itself referred back to the late 60s Rolling Stones), by opening the song
with a floating flute sound that erupts into a pounding thriller. The rhythm section here shines with a
burbling bass line and the four on the floor tough and smashing drum work. This is absolutely huge and a step forward in
pure sonic power. Man, I am looking
forward to their next album!
16.
Joanna Gruesome
Weird Sister
(Slumberland)
This
exhilarating debut is quite a find! Much
like last year’s Evans to Death
debut (also on the great Slumberland), this tumultuous album is brimming with
life and an uncanny ability to guide us through ups and downs and full on
throttling tunes. Unfortunately, I was a
little late the game on this release, so I’m writing on limited listens. I’m pretty sure this would rate higher with
more exposure and a better chance to delve into the schizophrenic lyrics that
I’ve gleaned so far. But none of that
matters at the moment, as vocalist Alanna McArdle invokes both the angry shouts
of the early 90s riot grrl bands and the sweet harmonizing of Veronica Falls’ Roxanne Clifford, as best exemplified on the frantic highlight
“Secret Surprise,” where she’s dreams of pulling out our teeth. Similarly, guitarists Owen Williams and
George Nicholls walk along these lines by alternating unexpectedly between
frenetic forceful strums (a la early Wedding
Present and Boyracer), feedback
explosions, and memorable ringing melodies – all within seconds of each other
on the same song. Despite this album’s
relentlessness and continuous assault, it is crammed with memorable songs and
plenty of variety simply based on the various dynamics on display. The opening “Anti-Parent Cowboy Killers” is a
perfect introduction to the band, because it covers all of their bases in
roughly two and a half minutes.
“Sugarcrush,” “Lemonade Grrrl,” and “Graveyard” are all high speed
punked up numbers, while “Wussy Void,” “Candy” and the finale “Satan” show us
some slower tempos – though not lacking in their sheer intensity. It’s a good thing the entire album is less
than 29 minutes, because I am exhausted.
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