Tuesday, December 21, 2010

022: Year-End Wrap-Up Blog-Post

Not that anyone reads this, or even posts on it anymore, but what the heck, I've been anticipating this post for a good month or so now. Without Further Ado... Manley's Music Best of the Year:

Best concerts:

1) Titus Andronicus + Free Energy @ Il Motore, August 22
2) Vampire Weekend + Beach House @ Metropolis, September 8
3) The Sainte Catherines @ L'Esco, December 4 (Secret Show!)
4) Shad @ Jazz Fest, June 25 (Bilingual Freestylin'!)
5) Titus Andronicus @ Green Room, April 10

Only went to nine shows this year. These were all the bomb diggity though. That August Titus Andronicus show especially; that was their second pass through Montreal of the year, the first one being somewhat hampered by frontman Patrick Stickles being on the verge of death due to having the flu. Free Energy was also totally surprisingly amazing that night! And I got to chat with T.A. afterwards and got a setlist and errything. Prospective future concert-of-the-year-winners take note: going the extra mile for the fans is always worth it. Chuuuch.

Best Singles:

1) Japandroids - Art Czars
2) Japandroids - Younger Us
3) No Trigger - Be Honest

Japandroids had an interesting year, putting out a compilation of old EPs called No Singles, which was quite good if not as impressive as their 2009 debut, Post-Nothing. They also put out three singles, each containing an original and a cover. Two of those were fantastic and appear here. The other one was Heavenward Grand Prix, which is an awesome title, but it kinda sucked.

Best EPs:

1) Girls - Broken Dreams Club
2) United Nations - Never Mind the Bombings, Here's Your Six Figures
3) Propagandhi - The Recovered EP

I got into fewer new bands this year (Not sure whether listening to less new music generally stemmed from this, or caused this. Will report back later.) but Girls was one of them, right near the end of the year when Broken Dreams Club started showing up on Best Of lists everywhere. Well, I slept! I admit it. It's good shit. As for United Nations... three tracks of tight, powerful brutality, followed by possibly the title track of the year. (Also: album art of the year for sure).

1-Hour Mixtape:

Against Me! - "Because of the Shame"
Beach House - "Norway"
Crime in Stereo - "Drugwolf"
The Gaslight Anthem - "The Diamond Church Street Choir"
Japandroids - "Art Czars"
Joanna Newsom - "Go Long"
Kanye West - "Gorgeous" (feat. Raekwon & Kid Cudi)
Sage Francis - "The Best of Times"
The Sainte Catherines - "Chub-E & Hank III / Vimont Stories, Pt. II"
Shad - "Yaa I Get It"
Titus Andronicus - "Four Score and Seven"
Vampire Weekend - "I Think Ur a Contra"

After a brief intermission, on with the show.

Best Albums of 2010, according to my ears:

1) Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
2) Vampire Weekend - Contra
3) Crime in Stereo - I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone
4) The Gaslight Anthem - American Slang
5) Girl Talk - All Day

6) Shad - TSOL
7) Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
8) Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
9) CEO - White Magic
10) Beach House - Teen Dream

11) Red Sparowes - The Fear Is Excruciating, But Therein Lies the Answer
12) Fake Problems - Real Ghosts Caught on Tape
13) The Sainte Catherines - Fire Works
14) Japandroids - No Singles
15) Joanna Newsom - Have One on Me

I think these pretty much speak for themselves. Also, neither you nor I want me to talk about them, because that would just take way too long. Trust me when I say these are all awesome albums that you should check out, though.

Runners-Up: Woods - At Echo Lake, Dessa - A Badly Broken Code, Gord Downie & The Country of Miracles - The Grand Bounce

That's all, folks! See you again in 2011!

Saturday, November 27, 2010

021: On the Meaninglessness of Lyrics

I had a little revelation recently. I don't know if you've been on this tip for a while, or what, but it's shaken me a little bit. It goes like this:

Lyrics don't mean anything.

I don't mean that you can't convey meaning through song lyrics. What I mean is that, by and large, no one cares what people say in a song. What they care about is how they say it. McLuhan was right—the medium is the message. Or, in this case, the tone is the message.

I've been listening to the new Kanye and Girl Talk albums a lot and it has made all that extremely clear. There's a sense of pure power that comes from rapping along with these artists— Raekwon, Missy Elliott, M.O.P. come to mind—whose rhymes embody little to nothing of my own personal ethos.

Now, there's my love for that bullshit rap music like P. Diddy on "All About the Benjamins," Rick Ross on "Hello Good Morning," and then there's my love for basically all of MF DOOM's oeuvre, with its constant multisyllabic rhymes that make no sense unless you study them scholarly. Which is more pleasing? The sound or the message sent? And Jay-Z, too. I love Jay's lyrics, but to be honest, I think I love his voice more. I love the sound of swagger, and frankly, I have to spend a lot of time convincing myself it's okay to like stuff like that when I feel like, lyrically speaking, I shouldn't. But, fuck, do they sound good. And Nicki Minaj... who can say that they'd still listen to her if she didn't break into pure ferocious snarling once a song? It's not the same. Why do I love "You Ain't Got Nothin' On Me" from Tha Carter III when I give so little of a fuck about Fabolous and Juelz Santana, and when their hyperviolent misogyny ought to disgust me? They just sound so fucking good!

It's more than rap music, though. Have you ever read Bon Iver lyrics? All I'm saying is, Rick Ross isn't the first person Justin Vernon's smoked up with. His lyrics are completely stupid, and yet, wow, his voice—you can't say no. It's so emotional. Conor Oberst is my indie Jay-Z—sure, he's a great songwriter. But fuck it, I love his voice; no surprise that I fell in love with Patrick Stickles' Turbo-Oberst snarl so easily. On the other end of the spectrum, Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes—wow, beautiful voice. Lyrics? Enh. So-so. But jeez, do I worship that guy.

Or how about all of Rage Against The Machine? How many of their fans got into them purely because of Zack de la Rocha's unbridled angry spitting? Has anyone ever made "ugh" sound so poetic and sexual before? I don't think it would have mattered what he was yelling about; all of white teenage male America would have been on his junk regardless. The labels knew that; they knew that RATM's sound was more important than their message, or you never would have heard of the band in the first place.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is... no wonder nobody listens to backpack rap and Soulja Boy is huge. No fucking wonder. If even university-educated overly-analytical left-wing pinko eggheads like me would rather listen to a singer who sounds good than one who can put together intelligent lyrics... No wonder.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

020: Can't Stop the Waltz

Brian says: (12:56:52 AM)
http://www.theprp.com/2010/02/18/news/acoustic-cancer-bats-footage-available-online/
Brian says: (12:56:52 AM)
Huh
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (12:57:14 AM)
brain asplode
Brian says: (12:57:31 AM)
BANJO
Brian says: (12:57:32 AM)
HOLY FUCK
Brian says: (12:57:33 AM)
DAY IS MADE.
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (12:57:56 AM)
sry
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (12:58:06 AM)
listening to girl talk au moment
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (12:58:10 AM)
give it a few minutes
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:10:10 AM)
so how was your eve
Brian says: (1:10:17 AM)
Weird
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:10:18 AM)
he says
Brian says: (1:10:21 AM)
I ended up cohosting Lachlan's show
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:10:24 AM)
finally getting to the acoustic bats
Brian says: (1:10:29 AM)
Evan liked it
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:10:58 AM)
cool
Brian says: (1:11:07 AM)
So take that
Brian says: (1:11:10 AM)
As an indicator.
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:11:27 AM)
kay
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:11:56 AM)
acoustic bats = pretty sweet
Brian says: (1:12:04 AM)
It's really surprisingly good
Brian says: (1:12:09 AM)
Evan says: (1:34:49 AM)
awesome banjo is awesome

Brian says: (1:12:14 AM)
Brian says: (1:38:21 AM)
Mind-blowing, bro.
Evan says: (1:38:27 AM)
no kidding
Evan says: (1:38:29 AM)
wow
Evan says: (1:38:34 AM)
THEY SOUND TALENTED
Evan says: (1:38:35 AM)
ZINGGG

where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:12:38 AM)
hahahahahha
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:12:43 AM)
man fuck that dude
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:12:54 AM)
he wouldn't know talented if it was in a long-distance relationship with him
Brian says: (1:12:59 AM)
L
Brian says: (1:12:59 AM)
O
Brian says: (1:13:00 AM)
L
Brian says: (1:13:02 AM)
YOU SMELL THAT?
Brian says: (1:13:07 AM)
THE HOUSE THAT EVAN BUILT IS BURNIN'
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:13:10 AM)
lol
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:13:34 AM)
this could totally sell to the like
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:13:41 AM)
crowd that was left with too much money in their pockets
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:13:52 AM)
when the johnny cash that covered nine inch nails and danzig passed away
Brian says: (1:13:54 AM)
(Y)
Brian says: (1:14:03 AM)
You shameless marketer
where the hills are sand-coloured, and bones lie unburied. says: (1:14:09 AM)
can't stop won't stop