Tag: 2010s

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Albums

Best albums of 2010: #3 The National “High violet”

Every time The National releases a new album, I needlessly worry that it can’t possibly be better than their last, that perhaps this time, they’ll finally release a disappointing album, and then, they come up with something that somehow, unbelievably, improves on the last. Such has been my experience with the five-piece, Cincinnati-based indie band, ever since I got into them shortly after the release of their 2007 album, “Boxer”. I’ve since gone back to explore their back catalogue and can attest that, at least for myself, this theory holds true for their pre-“Boxer” work as well.

For those not in the know, The National has made a name for themselves with their dark, brooding, atmospheric music. Early on, they were compared to well-established, influential artists like Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, and Joy Division, likely mostly due to the lush, baritone vocals of frontman Matt Berninger, but I think his intricate lyric work is another comparison point worth noting. I’ve heard it said that some people find their songs’ meanings too ambiguous but I’ve always liked the images that are invoked and the sometimes conversational tone Berninger takes, as if recounting a story to mates over pints. Yes, they create dark places in all corners of their music… and yet… there’s something oddly uplifting about it all.

If “Boxer” woke the world up to the beautiful music The National was making, “High violet” cemented them in our collective musical consciousness, breaking them into the mainstream but somehow keeping their indie “cred” intact. This album was well reviewed by both Pitchfork and Spin alike and sold very well with the music-buying public. For me, “High violet” is an almost perfect album. There are absolutely no weak songs in the batch. It is an album that is dense with instrumentation, each layer beautifully rendered and thickly applied so as not to be missed. The songs are all miniature symphonies with Berninger’s rich vocals serving as both the centrepiece and yet another cog in the complicated puzzle. I love to turn the volume up, close my eyes, and lose myself in this music, listening to the intense intricacies and discovering new nuances every time.

I consider myself truly blessed that I’ve gotten to see The National perform these and many other of their past and future songs a few times over the years. For those who haven’t had the pleasure, I definitely recommend you do so at your next opportunity. The experience is almost without description.

Anyhoo, here’s my three picks for you out of the eleven fantastic tracks on “High violet”.

“Bloodbuzz Ohio”: Track six starts cranked up with a crazy drum rhythm set against a thin layer of reverberating keys and keeps that same level throughout, and then, Matt Berninger peeks in with those aforementioned conversational vocals, allowing the rich textures in his voice to seep into every pore of the melody. “I still owe money to the money, to the money I owe. I never thought about love when I thought about home.” I don’t know what the heck he is referring to – if it’s personal or if it’s just words that match that melody – but damned if he doesn’t resonate. Especially when you are in the middle of a crowd shouting/screaming/singing along with those words and throwing them into the wall of sound that The National magically creates live.

“Conversation 16”: Speaking of conversational tone, this song’s lyrics sound like random snippets of dialogue picked up from different tables at a morning cafe and jumbled up into one disjointed narrative but one that paints a delicious Norman Rockwell-like image, wrought in the normal National hues. Back when this song appeared at number 22 on my list of favourite tunes for 2010, I wrote how the song reminded me of an exercise assigned to me back when I was a Creative Writing major back in university. Starting from “I think the kids are in trouble” and ending with “‘Cause I’m evil”, the ‘scratching, reverberating guitars and ominous drumming’ carries the conversation along on an almost sinister wavelength, making the banal seem gorgeous and exceptional.

“Runaway”: “We got another thing coming undone. And it’s taking us over. And it’s taking forever.” Track eight was my third favourite song of 2010 and back then, I described “Runaway” as a dirge. Bass drums thumping and laying down life as we know it. Acoustic finger picking, lilting through the dry ice fog and suddenly there’s a hint of horns, a taps for a new generation, sad but uplifting. The track reminds me of R.E.M.’s ability to imbue even the most quiet and delicate track with fiery passion and angst. It slowly builds but not in bombast or speed, no matter how much you think it could explode at any moment, it never does. It is simply beautiful.

Stay tuned for album #2. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. Diamond Rings “Special affections”
9. Bedouin Soundclash “Light the horizon”
8. LCD Soundsystem “This is happening”
7. The Drums “The Drums”
6. The New Pornographers “Together”
5. Stars “The five ghosts”
4. The Radio Dept. “Clinging to a scheme”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Amos the Transparent “Goodnight my dear… I’m falling apart”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Amos the Transparent
Album Title: Goodnight my dear… I’m falling apart
Year released: 2012
Details: Gatefold sleeve, white vinyl

The skinny: I’m already a couple days and a handful of great live performances into this year’s edition of Ottawa Bluesfest – the local music festival that blasts through pretty much every genre of music over the course of a week and half. I’ve been attending this thing on the regular for just over a decade now and one of the great things about it that hasn’t changed much is the organizers’ promotion of local talent. One such band that I discovered at one of the first few times I attended is Amos the Transparent, an indie rock collective led by Jonathan Chandler. I’ve since seen the group a number of times* and bought all of their albums, my favourite of which was their sophomore LP, 2012’s “Goodnight my dear… I’m falling apart.” For those of you too far afield to have heard this album, it is an excellent, big, Canadian indie rock record in the vein of “Funeral” or “Set yourself on fire”, but in addition to the orchestral elements those two albums sport, Amos throws in some traditional folk instrumentation for fun. I picked this original pressing in white vinyl up from the band’s merch table the last time I saw them perform live, back in 2018 at the Ottawa Dragonboat festival, and it’s one I slip on to the turntable with regularity.

Standout track: “Sure as the weather”

*And I will see them one more time this coming Thursday at Bluesfest.

Categories
Albums

Best albums of 2010: #4 The Radio Dept. “Clinging to a scheme”

A hearty welcome this morning as we delve ever deeper towards my favourite album of 2010, with this my number four album, “Clinging to a scheme” by The Radio Dept. To those religious sorts out there, pardon the blasphemy of this statement but… Holy god! This album blew my mind on first listen (which really should tell you lots about albums three through one on this list).

At the time, I had not heard one iota about The Radio Dept. and now thirteen years later, I couldn’t even tell you how they ever crossed my radar. I do remember, however, that after realizing that “Clinging to a scheme” was the Swedish indie rock band’s third album, I immediately dove into their back catalogue to see from whence this glorious sound developed. There were only these two other full-length albums to speak of, their releases spread liberally from 2003 to 2010, as if they only really recorded when the mood took them. A foreign concept, for sure, but one that seems to work for them, since 2003’s “Lesser matters” and 2006’s “Pet grief” are both really solid records.

The idea of the band and its name had roots in music made by friends Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson in Lund, Sweden, way back in 1995. This partnership was short-lived, however, and when Duncanson continued making music with others three years later, he did so using the same moniker. Nowadays, the lineup seems focused around the core of Duncanson, Martin Larsson, and Daniel Tjäder. And I say ‘nowadays’ but really, they’ve continued the trend of sporadic releases: a 2011 compilation album called “Passive aggressive”, a full-length in 2016 titled “Running out of love” and a handful of EPs and singles peppered in between.

But let’s get back to “Clinging to a scheme”, shall we?

As I already mentioned above, this particular music fan’s mind was blown on the first listen to said album. All of its elements – the droning, reverb-laden guitar work, the slacker vocals, the Madchester rhythms, the seemingly random samples – all called to mind the music I listened to in the early 90s but were updated enough in all to sound fresh. In its ten tracks, I heard a bit of Ride, some Chapterhouse (very early Chapterhouse), and yes, The Stone Roses. So of course, I would find the music appealing. But there’s something more here. Perhaps it’s an innocence or maybe just an apathy towards everything outside the musicians’ collective spheres. When listening to it, especially on earphones, the music becomes like a force field against all the evils of the outside world. It is beautifully dreamy, like a massage for the soul or a metaphysical drug on par with soma.

Speaking of drugs, have you had a look at the album’s cover? What exactly is that young fella doing? I don’t know if the band condones drug use or if this is a statement of some sort or perhaps I’m reading it all wrong and it’s simply tobacco. Either way, I could see the psychedelic nature of the music lending itself to further enjoyment with the use of recreational drugs… if you were into the type if thing. And if not, do like I do: turn it up loud, close your eyes, let the rhythm rip through you, and just float lazily on its airy melodies.

To start you on your journey, here’s my three picks for you, just a sample of the 10 great tracks from the album:

“Never follow suit”: Like most of the songs on “Clinging to a scheme”, the beat is danceable but on track four, it’s also slow and meandering. There’s a hint of reggae or dub in its aesthetic, digitized spasms mimicking steel drum explosions, and the keyboard riffs add to this feeling of aimless wandering, like it’s the journey and not the destination, and never caring if you get lost. In the middle of the track, we get an interlude, a sampling from a mid-80s documentary, an esoteric easter egg that I might never have hunted down if it didn’t tickle my brain so.

“Heaven’s on fire”: This one starts with a sample of a Thurston Moore ramble on youth culture and big business, making you think it might get social or political (or socio-political), and then, that beat kicks in and pretty much all of that is forgotten… You could read into the lyrics that Johan Duncanson is expressing his distaste for big music and couching it in a sweet sounding indie pop song that courts mainstream in an offhand way. “We’re outnumbered by those who take no pride in constantly moving against the tide.” But it could just as easily be about a strong dislike for some other person and a kiss off on the way to the dance floor. Either way, I makes me happy whenever I listen to it.

“This time around”: And just listen to this track! Do I really need to explain why it is so great? When I counted down my favourite tunes of 2010, it came in at number four, not a bad result at all for a song that it wasn’t even released as a single. In that post, I waxed poetically about The Charlatans because it felt to me that “This time around” sounded pulled out of the same gene pool as the rest of the great tracks on “Some friendly”. But it’s also Chapterhouse exuberance set against a drum beat that might make Reni of The Stone Roses blush. Whenever I listen to it, I feel like I want to explode into a frantic dance à la Keith Flint or Bez. But enough of the name drops. Let’s go let go!

Stay tuned for album #3. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. Diamond Rings “Special affections”
9. Bedouin Soundclash “Light the horizon”
8. LCD Soundsystem “This is happening”
7. The Drums “The Drums”
6. The New Pornographers “Together”
5. Stars “The five ghosts”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.