Lisztomania: Lucas' top 5 albums from the first half of 2007
It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m all kinds of bored, so I figured I would partake in my two favourite activities: listening to music and pretending to be smarter than I am. To that end, here is a list my top 5 albums from the first half of 2007. Hope everyone likes it.
1. Handsome Furs – Plague Park
I basically can’t stop listening to this album. It’s a duo made up of Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner, and his wife, Alexei Perry. Boeckner describes the band as “basically Wolf Parade without the guy that everybody likes and no real instruments” and he’s not far off the mark. His sparse guitar and keyboard playing and Perry’s minimal work with an old drum machine make for an interesting sonic landscape, but the real pleasure here is in the lyrics. Boeckner proved himself to be a fantastic writer with Wolf Parade, and with Perry being a poet by trade it’s no wonder that these two have managed to do such an excellent job of capturing the sense of disdain for modern technology and the trappings of life that they are trying to convey to the listener. When he sings “We turned off the miracle of electric light and nobody got found” on “Dumb Animals”, I get shivers.
2. Okkervil River – The Stage Names
Everyone who’s ever had the misfortune of getting sucked into one of my long tirades about music has heard me talk about this band. I’m a huge fan of storytelling in songwriting, and Will Sheff is one of the masters. Despite his sometimes frightening subject matter, he has a knack for creating fully developed characters that the listener can connect with.
Where in previous efforts he has created continuity across entire albums for a single character (Black Sheep Boy, and the Black Sheep Boy Appendix) here he makes a departure from his previous style and the songs all feel like they have a greater sense of individuality. Stylistically this album is a bit of a departure as well; Sheff has said that he wanted to make a good rock album that’s fun to listen to, and he’s done a great job. Songs like “Unless it’s Kicks” rock hard, but the real highlight of the album is “A Girl in Port” where he tells three separate stories of the guilt he’s felt over the relationships he’s had and ended. The song is truly haunting, and you get a real sense of the introspection that Sheff has put himself through.
3. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Yet another album from the “dude with a violin and a loop pedal” genre, but that’s not to say that this sounds like anything other than an Andrew Bird album. While he makes much more use of guitar than in previous offerings, his distinct vocal style and that whistle that makes PB&J sound like traffic cops are still there.
Lyrically he covers a lot of ground on this album. In my personal favorite track, “Plasticities”, Bird takes on the decay of individuality and aesthetic in the world, and when he sings “We'll fight for your music halls and dying cities” you get a sense that he’s truly concerned about our generation’s trend towards greed and moral ambiguity. In the succinct “Scythian Empire” he takes on the Iraq war, and subtly compares the current administration with long imploded and forgotten empires. And then songs like “Dark Matter” bring it all back around with subtle self-analysis.
4. Patrick Wolf – The Magic Position
Patrick Wolf is probably a little nuts. At least that’s what Andrew and I said to each other as we watched him prance around the stage topless in high heels and cut off denim shorts at sasquatch a few weeks ago. But whatever, this guy can write a hell of a pop album.
The opening track, “Overture”, does a great job of sucking you into the album right from the get go. Huge drum beats and a catchy run with the violin give this song an almost epic feeling. When the drum machine kicks in about a minute and a half into the song, you just want to get up and start dancing. And it doesn’t hurt that the song is about opening up and being honest. After that it launches into the title track, a huge pop anthem as much about love and sex as it is about picking yourself up and dusting off after a rough go.
The rest of the album carries on in the same vein. “Accident & Emergency” is another theatrical and danceable track, and it goes on from there. That’s not to say that Wolf has completely shed the sadness that populated his earlier efforts, but even the melancholy songs are poignant and interesting.
Shit I dunno what else to say, now that I’m listening to it again I’m not sure why this album isn’t at the top of the list. Go out and buy it now.
5. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer?
If you’re going to write an entire album about heartbreak and despair, you had better make it damn interesting. It seems like every other dude with a guitar and garage band violins and an ex girlfriend can get a record deal these days, and it makes for a pretty pathetic mainstream music scene. Kevin Barnes on the other hand, has got it figured out.
Of Montreal has always had a penchant for hugely theatric albums, but have generally stayed away from intensely personal subject matter. That is until the recent separation of Barnes and his Wife (who, rumor has it, was the merch vendor on one of his tours). Every song on this album is another take on his reaction to the blow, but he doesn’t let himself fall in to the trap set by the guitar hero playing set; while the album is certainly full of heartbreak, there’s no feeling sorry for himself to be found, and even the angry songs don’t travel into the spiteful anthem realm. Instead we get a spectrum that runs from distraction through drugs to getting other people to commit acts of violence.
Of course that’s only half of the equation. Hearing lines like “There’s the girl that left me bitter / I just want to pay some other girl to just walk up to her and hit her” is heady, and frankly creepy stuff, and it needs to be balanced appropriately. Here is where things become a true Of Montreal Album. Barnes’ high-pitched and squeaky lyrics lend a sense of disbelief to the whole thing, and the Music ranges from jerky, sparse guitar to upbeat and fun pop. As dirty as it feels, this album makes you want to dance.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Joanna Newsome - Joanna Newsome and the Y’s Street Band
Only three tracks, so it doesn’t qualify as an Album, but this version of “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie” is maybe the best thing she’s ever done. And that’s saying a lot.
2. The National – Boxer
Seriously, this album is amazing; I just wish it had a “Mr. November” to pick things up.
3. Feist – The Reminder
This is a great album, but everyone already knew that.
4. Liars – Liars
These guys have managed to put out one of my favorite albums, and also one of my most despised albums. This new one sounds really promising, but I haven’t been able to find the motivation to give it a full listen yet.
5. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
I don’t care what the hipsters are saying; this is a phenomenal album by a phenomenal band. It isn’t “Funeral” but what the hell could be?
6. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Their best since “Girls can Tell”
7. Frog Eyes – Tears of the Valedictorian
Because if Spencer Krug is on it, then it’s gotta be awesome, right?
8. Battles – Mirrored
I’m not usually a fan of this lyric-free rock dance stuff, but this album is pretty awesome.
1. Handsome Furs – Plague Park
I basically can’t stop listening to this album. It’s a duo made up of Wolf Parade’s Dan Boeckner, and his wife, Alexei Perry. Boeckner describes the band as “basically Wolf Parade without the guy that everybody likes and no real instruments” and he’s not far off the mark. His sparse guitar and keyboard playing and Perry’s minimal work with an old drum machine make for an interesting sonic landscape, but the real pleasure here is in the lyrics. Boeckner proved himself to be a fantastic writer with Wolf Parade, and with Perry being a poet by trade it’s no wonder that these two have managed to do such an excellent job of capturing the sense of disdain for modern technology and the trappings of life that they are trying to convey to the listener. When he sings “We turned off the miracle of electric light and nobody got found” on “Dumb Animals”, I get shivers.
2. Okkervil River – The Stage Names
Everyone who’s ever had the misfortune of getting sucked into one of my long tirades about music has heard me talk about this band. I’m a huge fan of storytelling in songwriting, and Will Sheff is one of the masters. Despite his sometimes frightening subject matter, he has a knack for creating fully developed characters that the listener can connect with.
Where in previous efforts he has created continuity across entire albums for a single character (Black Sheep Boy, and the Black Sheep Boy Appendix) here he makes a departure from his previous style and the songs all feel like they have a greater sense of individuality. Stylistically this album is a bit of a departure as well; Sheff has said that he wanted to make a good rock album that’s fun to listen to, and he’s done a great job. Songs like “Unless it’s Kicks” rock hard, but the real highlight of the album is “A Girl in Port” where he tells three separate stories of the guilt he’s felt over the relationships he’s had and ended. The song is truly haunting, and you get a real sense of the introspection that Sheff has put himself through.
3. Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Yet another album from the “dude with a violin and a loop pedal” genre, but that’s not to say that this sounds like anything other than an Andrew Bird album. While he makes much more use of guitar than in previous offerings, his distinct vocal style and that whistle that makes PB&J sound like traffic cops are still there.
Lyrically he covers a lot of ground on this album. In my personal favorite track, “Plasticities”, Bird takes on the decay of individuality and aesthetic in the world, and when he sings “We'll fight for your music halls and dying cities” you get a sense that he’s truly concerned about our generation’s trend towards greed and moral ambiguity. In the succinct “Scythian Empire” he takes on the Iraq war, and subtly compares the current administration with long imploded and forgotten empires. And then songs like “Dark Matter” bring it all back around with subtle self-analysis.
4. Patrick Wolf – The Magic Position
Patrick Wolf is probably a little nuts. At least that’s what Andrew and I said to each other as we watched him prance around the stage topless in high heels and cut off denim shorts at sasquatch a few weeks ago. But whatever, this guy can write a hell of a pop album.
The opening track, “Overture”, does a great job of sucking you into the album right from the get go. Huge drum beats and a catchy run with the violin give this song an almost epic feeling. When the drum machine kicks in about a minute and a half into the song, you just want to get up and start dancing. And it doesn’t hurt that the song is about opening up and being honest. After that it launches into the title track, a huge pop anthem as much about love and sex as it is about picking yourself up and dusting off after a rough go.
The rest of the album carries on in the same vein. “Accident & Emergency” is another theatrical and danceable track, and it goes on from there. That’s not to say that Wolf has completely shed the sadness that populated his earlier efforts, but even the melancholy songs are poignant and interesting.
Shit I dunno what else to say, now that I’m listening to it again I’m not sure why this album isn’t at the top of the list. Go out and buy it now.
5. Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, are you the Destroyer?
If you’re going to write an entire album about heartbreak and despair, you had better make it damn interesting. It seems like every other dude with a guitar and garage band violins and an ex girlfriend can get a record deal these days, and it makes for a pretty pathetic mainstream music scene. Kevin Barnes on the other hand, has got it figured out.
Of Montreal has always had a penchant for hugely theatric albums, but have generally stayed away from intensely personal subject matter. That is until the recent separation of Barnes and his Wife (who, rumor has it, was the merch vendor on one of his tours). Every song on this album is another take on his reaction to the blow, but he doesn’t let himself fall in to the trap set by the guitar hero playing set; while the album is certainly full of heartbreak, there’s no feeling sorry for himself to be found, and even the angry songs don’t travel into the spiteful anthem realm. Instead we get a spectrum that runs from distraction through drugs to getting other people to commit acts of violence.
Of course that’s only half of the equation. Hearing lines like “There’s the girl that left me bitter / I just want to pay some other girl to just walk up to her and hit her” is heady, and frankly creepy stuff, and it needs to be balanced appropriately. Here is where things become a true Of Montreal Album. Barnes’ high-pitched and squeaky lyrics lend a sense of disbelief to the whole thing, and the Music ranges from jerky, sparse guitar to upbeat and fun pop. As dirty as it feels, this album makes you want to dance.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Joanna Newsome - Joanna Newsome and the Y’s Street Band
Only three tracks, so it doesn’t qualify as an Album, but this version of “Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie” is maybe the best thing she’s ever done. And that’s saying a lot.
2. The National – Boxer
Seriously, this album is amazing; I just wish it had a “Mr. November” to pick things up.
3. Feist – The Reminder
This is a great album, but everyone already knew that.
4. Liars – Liars
These guys have managed to put out one of my favorite albums, and also one of my most despised albums. This new one sounds really promising, but I haven’t been able to find the motivation to give it a full listen yet.
5. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
I don’t care what the hipsters are saying; this is a phenomenal album by a phenomenal band. It isn’t “Funeral” but what the hell could be?
6. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Their best since “Girls can Tell”
7. Frog Eyes – Tears of the Valedictorian
Because if Spencer Krug is on it, then it’s gotta be awesome, right?
8. Battles – Mirrored
I’m not usually a fan of this lyric-free rock dance stuff, but this album is pretty awesome.
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