It?s unfortunate that a substantial amount of people will get into Yonlu primarily because he killed himself at the age of sixteen. If history is any indication, the buildup for his only record, A Society In Which No Tear Is Shed Is Incredibly Mediocre, will only be astronomically heightened with the infamous ?posthumous? tag that turns mediocre albums into intriguing ones and great albums into legends. Still, with Yonlu (aka Vinicius Gageiro Marques), it?s practically impossible to talk about A Society In Which No Tear Is Shed without mentioning his imminent suicide. The record is drenched with a stark loneliness and melancholy that defines Marques? work and foreshadows his fate. Toying with every style from Elliott Smith aping doubled-vocals folk to breakbeat techno, Yonlu creates an impressively diverse work with the kind of ****-to-the-wind mentality and experimental approach one would expect from a well-listened teenager. Cross that with his exceptional ability to articulate emotional turmoil and the results speak for themselves. A Society in which No Tear Is Shed Is Incredibly Mediocre is a sprawling and yet unmistakably unified collection of intensely personal songs by a gifted artist cut down before he even approached his prime.
For all intents and purposes, Flowers and Fireworks is the type of record sputnik should eat up. It's magnificent entry into skramz, longer than the average record, but just as consistent and solid. On Flowers and Fireworks, Spires are exciting, methodical, and mesmerizing all at once. Sure, a general homogeneity hangs over the record, but if that is the record’s most egregious flaw, then Flowers and Fireworks must be heralded as a success, for it takes a band in a stagnant genre offering something mostly unoriginal, and yet on almost every level, it works. Here’s to hoping Spires stick around, because if there’s one thing emo doesn’t need, it’s another promising act calling it quits after their first record.
If You Are There didn't convince you that Mono deserve a spot among post rock's upper echelon, Hymn to the Immortal Wind certainly will. In pretty much the pulverizing record released so far in 2009, Mono deliver seven gorgeously orchestrated gems bookended by the two best songs of their career, "Ashes in the Snow" and "Everlasting Light." It's sometimes dragged out by the sheer hugeness of it all, but Hymn To the Immortal Wind consistently amazes with beauty and heaviness while staying on the good side of pretentious.
Don't look now, but Merriweather Post Pavilion might just be Animal Collective's best album. MPP finds Animal Collective exercising the perfect amount of restraint in making their most consistent, easily accessible album. Grumpy fusspot purists who listened to (and actually enjoyed!) Sung Tongs and considered themselves Animal Collective experts might try to tell you that this is a bad thing, but they'd be wrong because the fact is: this album is fucking fun. In a way, Animal Collective has been heading towards this album ever since their rise in popularity. On MPP, they take the best parts of their last few albums- the duality of Sung Tongs, the heart of Feels, and the catchiness of Strawberry Jam- and combine them into a ridiculously fun 50 or so minutes. It's impossible to not get taken in by the glorious harmonies of "My Girls" (the part where it goes "OOHHHHH" might just be the best moment in music) or the beautiful purity of "Bluish." I could ramble on every track's merits, but to keep a long story short, Merriweather Post Pavilion is arguably the best record from a band with an already astounding catalogue. Let the argument for best band of the 00s begin.
2008's best split LP comes from an unsurprising source. As Sputnikmusic critic Ryan Flatley put it, Daitro and Sed Non Satiata are two of France's most respected emo acts, and they like to do splits. So not only was the existence of this eight song split from les hommes de France expected, its high quality was expected as well. Both Daitro and Sed Non Satiata are in top form here, both working to their respective strengths. Sed Non Satiata's side proves the more consistent, with slow burning post rock tinged epics, while Daitro bring their fair share of highlights with ‘Nous Ne Participons Pas Tous ?a M? Utopie’ and ‘Un Fl? Pour Un Autre.’ Two awesome bands just keep doing their thang, and 2008's top split earns its title.
When Chris Schafer cries "Where is your God now? He isn't here..." on "Psiu! Puxa!" Lights Out Asia cements its position as one of 2008's most intriguing acts. The first three songs off their third studio album Eyes Like Brontide are all beautifully orchestrated electronica/post rock pieces in their own right, but that brief, glorious climax in the fourth announces their presence with a deafening resonance. On Eyes Like Bromtide, Lights Out Asia envelops their listeners in a cold dead place, and doesn't release until the final crescendo of "Six Points of Fire." You can't get more gay post rock descriptions, people. Seriously though, all homosexual metaphors aside, Eyes Like Brontide is an extremely entertaining, mesmerizing record. It very much plays to a specific atmosphere, isolating the listener in Lights Out Asia's reverb heavy drum machines and gorgeous piano lines. Chris Schafer's voice, when present, is incredibly strong and always heartbreaking, such as on the album's first full track, "Radars Over the Ghosts of Cherynobl," when one can feel the dejected cynicism in his voice. He alone makes Eyes Like Brontide an impressive release, but Lights Out Asia's consistency propels the record to the top of 2008's post rock heap. In Eyes Like Brontide, Lights Out Asia have created one of the most intense, beautiful, and dare-I-say epic post rock albums of the year. And with song titles like "If I Die, I Wish You A Horrible Death," how can you resist?
Post rock with beautiful vocals and asymmetrical time signatures? Count me in! Vessels' White Fields and Open Devices is an impressive debut from the british quintet, boasting ten tracks of scorching instrumentals, pop songs, and piano ballads. No song on the album is weak, and no two songs on the record find their merit with the same tricks, making White Fields an extremely well rounded and rewarding listen. It's chock full of gems: "A Hundred Times in Every Direction" and "Yuki" use the delicately gorgeous voice of Tom Evans to create heartwrenching tracks, whereas instrumental burners "Altered Beast" and "An Idle Brain and the Devil's Workshop" are excellently crafted post rock tunes that cut the crap and get to the point for 7 minutes. White Fields and Open Devices is a long record, but it's definitely worth it, so just get it. I mean, how often do you come across a ten song post rock record with no skippable tracks?
Before this year started, if you were to ask me "What do you think will be your favorite post rock album of 2008?" I never would have thought that my answer would be Spokes' People Like People Like You. Why should it be? 2008 promised albums from post rock staples like Mogwai and A Silver Mount Zion. Even after I'd heard the album and the year progressed, I didn't think Spokes would hold it's place against the epic grandeur of Pg. Lost or the chilled, fresh vibe of My Education. Yet here I am, 9 months into the year, and still People Like People Like You continues to impress. It's not all that different from its contemporaries: cymbals swell, most of the tracks are instrumental (with two beautiful exceptions), but what sets it apart is how invariably warm this record is. People Like People Like You seeps with blissful contentment through sweeping violins, charmingly sweet melodies, and occasionally, achingly wistful vocals. It's refreshingly short and masterfully executed, with the production getting everything it can out of such expertly crafted songs. It's criminal how little hype this has received from sputnik when it's a record that truly deserves it.
Despite sounding clunky on paper and getting pegged as "The Spanish Person Pitch," Alegranza! stands as a completely singular work. Somewhere between maddening and hypnotizing, El Guincho's album achieves a remarkably strong blend between being something familiar and being something unlike anything before it. Using heavily repeated grooves and minimalist composition, Alegranza! makes for an intriguing listen, at least. There are several moments on Alegranza! that invoke a “Hey, that sounds kind of like (so and so),” but before the similarity becomes a knockoff, El Guincho takes off in a completely different direction, making the album both heavily influenced and completely unique at the same time. With Alegranza!, El Guincho takes what could have been a disaster and forms one of the most peculiar, inimitable records of the year. Chow down
How Lonely Sits the City is one of those albums where the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Spoken word samples and doomtastic strings of Godspeed? Check. Sweet vocals reminiscent of Do Make Say Think and Sigur Ros? Check. Disgustingly long novellas for song titles? Unfortunately, yes. But while all these things are fine and dandy, The Ascent of Everest sounds just a bit too latched on to their contemporaries to say anything of real relevance. This isn't to say the album isn't a great post rock record. There's chill-inducing crescendos and cymbal smashing all around, and each of How Lonely's five tracks has some element to give it merit. The absolute standout is "A Threnody," which poignantly uses an excerpt from Mario Cuomo's speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention to devastating effect.
For a post rock novice, this is a great starting point for the genre, as it's less (musically) pretentious than Godspeed and less intimidating than Sigur Ros circa ( ), but to the post rock aficionado, How Lonely Sits The City is fairly ho hum. I still recommend it though, because all in all, this is a pretty damn solid record.
For me, the first word that comes to mind when listening to The Flashbulb's Soundtrack to a Vacant Life is Immense. Thirty some odd tracks of music ranging from hard rock, abrasive electronica, ambient soundscapes, drum solos, gorgeous piano ballads, spanish guitar suites, and whatever else The Flashbulb (aka Benn Jordan) decides to incorporate, Vacant Life commands attention, respect, and above all, admiration. As a bipolar individual, Jordan's album varies in emotions from dark to euphoric to frantic, all the while maintaining a feeling of fluidity. It helps that Jordan's musicianship is ace in all forays from percussion to guitar to electronics, as his expertise is apparent in tracks like "Steel for Pappa", "That Missing Week", and pretty much any other track off the record. Also, the amount of intricacies on this album is mind boggling. Jordan uses samples throughout Soundtrack to provide the key atmospheric element to several points in the record, the most obvious being the death-pondering theory in "Kirlian Voyager". From start to finish, Jordan delivers a record that needs to be heard, and since he pretty much asks you to pirate it (he torrented it himself), what's stopping you from picking it up? Soundtrack to a Vacant Life is an essential release for anyone who likes music.
Dwell is a slick collection of anthems from Iowa indie-poppers Envy Corps. The hype's already begun to hit these guys, with comparisons to Radiohead and Modest Mouse already pigeon-holing them, but don't be fooled; Dwell is a record that stands on its own, taking the best work from its contemporaries and incorporating it into eleven tracks of euphoric bliss. Look out for tracks like "Story Problem" and "Sylvia (The Beekeeper)", as they're quite liable to stick in your head for days and look out for The Envy Corps, because they've made an album that should be listened to.
Not so much disco for the modern era as it is disco in the modern era, Hercules and Love Affair is Andrew Butler pretty much having a blast creating some of the catchiest music around. Sure to incite the occasional spasmodic Caucasian hump-dance, Hercules and Love Affair runs from start to finish unabashedly in groove-heaven, pimped out with horns, octave hopping bass-lines, and uhn-tiss-kaht-tiss beats out the wazoo. Featuring the more than capable voices of Antony (of "& the Johnsons" fame), solo siren Nomi, and seductive Kim Ann, Butler's record sports ten consistently charming tracks that prove monstrously entertaining. The opening quintet is absolutely dynamite, with tracks like "Hercules' Theme" and "Blind" providing quality dance music with more hooks than you can shake a stick at, and though the second half drags a bit, it doesn't lessen the overall value of the record. An extremely enjoyable effort.
With their 5th album, A Silver Mount Zion hint that their new material will be rockier, more fun, and more bitchin than ever before. Though they don't consistently deliver on that front, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons rocks pretty damn hard for a post rock record. Though Efrim Menuck's voice is getting worse as he thinks it's getting better, the record still serves up its fair share of moments such as the dynamite "1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound" and the gorgeous "Blindblindblind". Thanks to intricate orchestrations, choral arrangements, and some overall slick tunes, 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons might just be ASMZ's best release. Just maybe.
