Tag Archive: Best Albums of 2009


Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Barzin

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.31, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (3 votes cast)

Barzin’s Notes to an Absent Lover isn’t typically the type of album that would make it onto my short list of favorites, but there is something about the delicate nature of the record’s near-perfect arrangements that really took a hold on me in 2009. Not to say that I shy away from quiet folk, in fact I am drawn to it more often than not, but rarely is a record so steeped in sadness that you find yourself playing over and over again. In terms of bringing on the waterworks, listening to Notes is the musical equivalent of watching The Notebook; It is difficult to do without shedding tears. From start to finish the album recounts the harrowing details of heartbreak from a shattered relationship. I touched on this theme in my original review of the record back in April, but the thing that still amazes me is how easy it is to relate to so much of the material. While few have likely been through such a gut-wrenching breakup in our lives, I am sure that most of us have seen at least on love come and go in our lives, given that there are lines and situations that can bring back emotions for all of us. For me, that is the great thing about any song or record, that ability to bring back a memory or take you to a moment from your past. Putting this record on my short list is a no-brainer.

That being said, Notes is much more than just a lyrically well-written record. Musically the album is so good that you could replace the words with complete nonsense and still be able to enjoy it. In some ways it is Iron & Wine meets Bob Dylan, making the greatest breakup soundtrack of this generation: a modern-day Blood on the Tracks you could say. The sonic beauty of Notes is all in the simplicity. There is not a lot going on in any given track but it is perfectly balanced; any more would be too much and any less would be short of what is required. Tracks like “Soft Summer Girls,” “Words tangled in Blue,” and “Stayed Too Long in This Place” are standouts, each providing a certain something that will stick with you long after you lift the needle off the record. Songwriters like Barzin are a dying breed these days, with far too many artists focusing on experimentation and irreverence. In these times Notes to an Absent Lover is a breath of fresh air and something we should all take a few minutes to enjoy.

Check out the rest of our “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

Barzin – Soft Summer Girls

Barzin – Stayed Too Long in This Place

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Mazes

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.31, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Every year or so I stumble upon a somewhat obscure album that I fall completely in love with and spend the next several months trying to force on all of my friends and anyone else who will listen. I become “that guy,” singing the praises of some band that you have never heard of and a record that you will never be able to find. This year my personal project was Mazes’ self-titled debut, which I originally touched on back in March in my now (temporarily) defunct TGIF column. At the time I had no idea how much influence the record would have on me throughout the year, and in retrospect I wish I would have given it a more proper long-form review. All of that is water under the bridge now, of course, but it doesn’t change the fact that Mazes worked their way into my permanent mental catalog over the course of the year. The band is a bit of a side project, headed by a few members of the locally legendary Chicago band The 1900′s along with a host of friends who lend their talent and instruments to various tracks along the way.

The sound of the record is predominantly lo-fi, playing out as though you are listening to the whole thing on an old AM radio. The recording quality is intentionally shoddy, a result of the fact that much of it was put to tape in various places at various times over the span of several years. As frontman Edward Anderson explains it, the project was the culmination of a whole bunch of songs written and recorded with different musicians and friends, a labor of love if you will, that finally came to a finish earlier this year. This is one of those albums that finds perfection through imperfection. Though it is overwhelmingly mellow and soothing, it is a bit rough around the edges and has a certain “I don’t give a fuck what you think” quality to it. A lesser journalist may describe it as an old Cat Stevens record struggling with a hangover on a Sunday morning. No matter how you sum it up though, the end result is an outstanding effort that was worth all of the time that went into making it. Every song sings to me in some way, which makes it difficult to talk about individual tracks, but I can say with certainty that “Cat State Comity” and “I Have Laid in the Darkness of Doubt” are two songs that will be on playlists for me well into the next decade. It’s a bit obscure and a bit quirky at times, but Mazes is a record you need to hear.

Check out the rest of our “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

Mazes – Cat State Comity

Mazes – I Have Laid in the Darkness of Doubt

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Pale Air Singers

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.31, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Our first mention of Pale Air Singers came way back in May when I dropped a drunken review of their debut album into the Citizen Dick ether. Since then it has been one of a very small handful of albums that I have made a point to squeeze into my regular rotation this year. I am often considered one of the more finicky Dicks when it comes to embracing new albums, but this record did it for me from day one and I will probably still be spinning it consistently at this time next year. Though I typically approach bands made up of members from other bands, particularly ones with multiple vocalists, with a bit of apprehension, the cohesiveness of this record and the flow of the tracks is astonishing. This isn’t to say that the record is monotonous or repetitious, because that would be the farthest thing from the truth given the incredible diversity of sound that emerges from the Canadian quintet. What I mean here is that it sounds like these guys have been writing songs together for years, which is even more incredible when you realize that the entire album was written and recorded over the course of less that three weeks with the band holed up in a studio, hashing out what might be my favorite album of the last twelve months.

The first track that I came across from this record was the raw and folky “Swill and Grits,” and I knew right away that I was onto something potentially great. As I mentioned in my review many months ago, that song bears a strong resemblance to Midlake’s “Roscoe,” which is one of my favorites from the earlier part of the decade. Having heard that, diving into the rest of the record provided me with one of my most pleasant musical surprises of the year. Much of the record, by comparison, trends far more toward the electronic alternative end of the spectrum. Tracks like “Cubby , He Chopped Me Down” and “Horse Trade” remind me of an Americana laden cross-pollination of OK Computer and Kid A, while the eerie “The Moving Floor” recalls shades of Sam Beam’s haunting lyricism and subdued strumming. On the whole, this record is perfect for fans of Radiohead and Iron and Wine, yet manages to combine hints of both sounds without alienating either or coming across as disjointed as it flows back and forth; this is truly a monumental accomplishment given the genealogy of the band and the circumstances under which the record was written and recorded. If for some reason you missed this one back in the spring, I implore you to retrace your steps and give it a shot. This is one album from 2009 that you will be sorry you didn’t hear.

Check out the rest of our “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

Pale Air Singers – Swill and Grits

Pale Air Singers – Cubby, He Chopped Me Down

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – The Antlers

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.31, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (3 votes cast)

The infectious rhythmic strum of “Two” hit the blogosphere like a wildfire earlier this year, and, fittingly, the rest of the album wandered into the stratosphere just as quickly.  We’re hugely aware that Hospice is on nearly every major year-end list, and our inclusion isn’t obligatory.  The album is simply that good.  The soft underbelly of this album is, to me, the ease with which tracks impact the listener.  Nearly orchestral arrangements cleanse tension and force contemplation.  The lullaby beauty of “Bear” is fairly impossible to beat this year, and no matter which track listeners choose to chew on, an incredibly mature, complex, yet acessible album is what is left.  It was a great year for music, folks, but Hospice sets the bar pretty high for everything else.  To me, it stands pretty strongly with Veckatimest in lofty musicianship.  It’s about as pristine as they come, weaving everything into its mix.  Psychedelia, strings, synths, huge percussion elements, and the gorgeous harmonies are big enough to fill a stadium.  Or, perhaps more listeners hit this record like I do, alone, with headphones and and undivided attention.

I don’t have a lengthy list of attributes that I’ll attach to this album today.  That’s already been done, and everything’s been said about how great Hospice is.  Instead, to me, what’s important is how this album manages to isolate me.  When I’m listening to “Wake” or “Atrophy” I essentially leave everything else behind.  Perhaps one marker for a great album is how much attention it requires, and if I’m accurate, this requires more direct contact than nearly any album released all year.  Songs like “Kettering” somehow wire directly into my brain, the soft vocals sending me somewhere that can only be described as internal.  For many of the tracks, the hypnotic rhythm is what snags me most, particularly in “Sylvia” and the off-kilter fuzzy bounce pulls me in every time.

I’ve spent a great part of the year with a careful eye on hype, trying my best not to fall prey to it; I suppose I like to think that I’ll stay ahead of the game that way.  Nonetheless, many albums get hyped for a reason.  I’ll concede this one with ease.  Hospice deserves a top shelf housing in any modern music collection.  Its swirling anthems will remain with me long after the ball drops tonight.  If for some reason, this album passed you by, make it your first important purchase in 2010.

Check out the rest of our building “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

The Antlers Official Site

Buy Hospice at Insound now!

The Antlers – Bear

The Antlers – Two

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – The Dutchess & The Duke

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.31, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Hardly Art put up a little stand underneath the tent at The Pitchfork Festival this summer, and while there’s not a lot of time to scurry back and forth between acts on each of the three stages, we were able to stop and talk to Sarah who was peddling all sorts of merchandise and promoting her bands.  On her request, we headed over to the side stage to catch The Dutchess & The Duke.  It was midway through the afternoon, our vodka was nearly gone, and we were  pretty tired, to be frank.  When the band of whistling hipsters walked on to the stage, we didn’t realize that the band was essentially Jesse Lortz and Kimberly Morrison.  They rolled onto the stage without any pretense with several pals from other bands and did nothing less than blow the densely packed crowd away in a short 35 minute set.  As I sat in the photo pit with my measly point-and-shoot, I began to notice something unfold in the music.  I turned around and looked at the crowd.  Asses were shaking, heads were bopping, and a near square dance mentality was surging through the crowd.  My confusion was pretty intense, because the lyrics coming out of Lortz and Morrisons’ mouths were entirely morose and brooding.  What fun.  Sunset/Sunrise is a power packed album of formulaic folk with about enough wicked sneer to raze buildings.  What’s so noteworthy about this release is how well the live material is equally matched in the recording studio.  Lively country folk with dreary lyrics.  It’s not a new formula.  What’s so unique about this album, as opposed to many others of similar ilk, is that Lortz and Morrison do it sincerely, and the push and pull of tortured relationships and pining regret are gorgeously contrasted with a wide spanning variety of upbeat and burning, edgy folk.

James wrote a pretty killer review of Sunset/Sunrise upon its release, and I bought the vinyl shortly thereafter, inspired in large part by their amazing peformance at the festival.  I spun “Scorpio” thirty or forty times in a row before I even finished listening to the album in its entirety.  The roundabout vocals and slightly distorted hollow-body guitar solos pepper the entire album. Equal parts jangle, country, traditional folk and a splash of rockabilly are all beautifully employed into a kind of warm solid gold sound.  A soft grainy distortion envelopes each track, and it’s easily one of the best vinyl purchases I’ve made all year.  “Hands” is the initially leaked track that we’ve posted below, but it’s not super indicative of the entire record.  The black and white of this album is spectacular.  Tales of despair and stark emotional balladry found a home on many turntables this year, but none did it more superbly and, believe it or not, happily, than The Dutchess & The Duke.

Check out the rest of our “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

The Dutchess & The Duke Official Site

Buy Sunset/Sunrise at Insound now!

The Dutchess & The Duke – Hands

The Dutchess & The Duke – Living this Life

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Bear in Heaven

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.31, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (3 votes cast)

bearinheavenbeastBear in Heaven is coming to play for students at Case Western Reserve early in the new year, and even if I have to crawl inside a guitar case to smuggle myself into the show, I’ll somehow manage.  To put it mildly, Brooklyn-based Bear in Heaven’s Beast Rest Forth Mouth was a huge blast of refreshing energy to my music arsenal this year.  If anyone has a music list without this album squarely featured, they’re missing the boat.  In my October review of the album, I couldn’t have used a better simile than “It’s like someone’s singing you a lullaby while your bed’s on fire.”  This ten track album is epic in scope, full in sound and intensity, and intricate in its arrangement.  We’re excited to host the band in Cleveland in a few short weeks, and even more intrigued to hear these tracks in a live setting.  Jon Philpot has alluded in interviews that many of the tracks on BRFM have been honed over the long haul since their debut LP, and one listen in its entirety brings this idea home abruptly and pleasantly.  To put it mildly, there’s not an album released in 2009 that sounds like this.  In this business, that’s saying something.

Much of BRFM’s value lies in the multiple listens it requires.  Huge tracks with major prog-rock tendencies are laid out with multiple layers of sound, spiraling between primal percussion and swirling synth driven pulsing.  Most of the record is electronically situated, but what makes the album sing is that it doesn’t have that feel to it.  It’s gritty and loud, intense, and full of hooks.  “Ultimate Satisfaction” is one of my favorite tracks of the year.  Much hype has been given to “Lovesick Teenagers” due to the pushing of Edward Droste and our great pals at Pitchfork, and while the song is good, it’s in no way indicative of the largeness of the album.  Tightly coiled rhythms bounce and pummel throughout the album, and create a catchy and infectious vibe that remains edgy enough to tense the shoulders and hit people with.  Songs like “Dust Cloud” and “Drug A Wheel” soar into nearly freakout mode, but the band always manages to rein things in just enough to keep their sound from exiting the arena.  From percussion, to synthesizers, blips, sludgy fuzz, to soaring and cinematic vocal delivery, this album has a present for every listener.

In the year that was, much heraldry was placed on the experimental side of things in the indie world.  I’ve come to the conclusion that experimental doesn’t always equate genius or intelligence.  I’ve listened to a lot of music this year, and Beast Rest Forth Mouth takes home the blue-ribbon in about fifteen indie categories, and they do it with enough intricacy to keep this on your turntable for years to come.  Enjoy the aforementioned, “Lovesick Teenagers,” and “Wholehearted Mess.”

Check out the rest of our slowly building “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

Bear in Heaven Official Site

Buy Beast Rest Forth Mouth at Insound now!

Bear in Heaven – Wholehearted Mess

Bear in Heaven – Lovesick Teenagers

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Cotton Jones

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.30, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (5 votes cast)

I just thought I’d tell you.  All the demons have been slain.  Cotton Jones’ Paranoid Cocoon was softly released by Suicide Squeeze records to not a whole lot of fanfare early in 2009, and it holds quite a bit of sentimental value to most of the writers here.  I reviewed this album in late January and from the jump, I fell into Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw’s sultry one-part Johnny Cash/one part Jim Morrison mixture of psych-driven folk.  I don’t know much about Nau’s home state of Maryland, but at times, the easy melodies and subtly driven hymns of tainted optimism seemed perfectly bred for the hardened outer shell of the rust belt here in Cleveland.  We hooked up with our pals at the local record store, Music Saves, and had Nau and McGraw come in to do an in-store just before they played the hospitable Beachland Tavern.  It’s great to see performers strip down their sound into something viable and intimate, and when the two launched into “Blood Red Sentimental Blues,” I was hooked even further.  Not only was this our first in-store sponsorship, but it kicked ass, too.  Nau is one of those performers that doesn’t have to overwork to expose his vocal talent.  Beat up classical guitar and sexy maiden along for the ride.  It works, and every song on this album has stayed with me through each season of this year.

Most of the album is about the aura and lyricism.  It really is a collection of tracks poised for duality, and can be enjoyed from multiple perspectives.  On one hand, the record pops off about as calm as can be, serving lazy times and soothing moods.  For most of the year, Paranoid Cocoon was my background soundtrack.  I’m mopping the floor, “I Am the Changer” is fueling it, I’m sipping a pre-work espresso, and “Gone the Bells” relaxes me.  On the other hand, Nau and McGraw don’t let listeners go so easily, and that’s what makes this album much greater than its initial listen or two.  Nau’s lyricism has never been marked with flowers and bunny rabbits, but there’s a cathartic emphasis on lights at the end of the tunnel and freer days.  No matter how many times I listen to this record, I uncover something new, some new snippet of metaphorical wisdom or ambiguous value.  On a surface level, the album is fabulous musically.  It propelled me through a long winter in Cleveland and stayed with me through the dog days of summer.  If you were in the market for neatly packaged and soothing folk with an edge, there was none better than Cotton Jones this year.  Enjoy the live vids of the in-store we sponsored, along with “Blood Red Sentimental Blues” and a live version of “Gotta Cheer Up” from LaundroMatinee at MOKB.

Check out the rest of our “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

Cotton Jones Official Site

Buy Paranoid Cocoon at Insound now!

Cotton Jones – Blood Red Sentimental Blues

Cotton Jones – Gotta Cheer Up (Live on LaundroMatinee.com)

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Bowerbirds

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.30, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (3 votes cast)

The greatest thing about year end reviewing is that nobody sets any sort of rule about how long I’m supposed to spend with an album before I can attest to its value. Nobody’s technically allowed to question or argue my assessment process or evaluation techniques, right? It’s my list, so buzz off (hypothetically). As a teacher, I create evaluation rubrics to score student achievement. I evaluate data, I look at trends, I streamline assessments so that they effectively test student knowledge. I suppose music can be scored the same way, or at least an attempt can be made. As I’ve moved through the first year of this blog, I’ve often wondered if there’s a super rubric that can systematically evaluate art and complexity. Of course, no such thing exists, and if you’ve not caught onto my sarcasm just yet, it might be best to carry on with whatever you were doing when you began reading. Of course, the idea of evaluating musical merit on some sort of scale is daunting, and more importantly, degrading to art in the first place. Nonetheless, for some reason, we feel like we need approval before we buy something. We turn to “experts” or “point systems” to somehow project this art’s value over that art’s value. Who, then, are we actually evaluating? The unfortunate thing is that we end up evaluating the evaluators. If Bill says it’s good, and Bill has a nifty rating system and vast knowledge, it therefore must be noteworthy. This is all horseshit, and Bowerbirds’ 2009 release, Upper Air creeped on me like no other, soaring with beautiful and classical harmonies and soul-baring melodies. You can evaluate me if you wish, but I have no point system or solid scoring guide to describe this album’s merit. I simply know that it makes me feel. Very few albums did this to me this year. That’s saying something, I think.

Upper Air was a huge part of my summer this year. While on tour with Megafaun throughout most of July/August, Bowerbirds rocked The Beachland Tavern, and needed a place to crash. I rounded up a case of beer, three pizzas and we had a blast hanging out with both bands. When Brad Cook of Megafaun was trading old DeYarmond Edison tapes on my staircase with Phil Moore, I think I knew I was hosting some killer musicians at my house that night. The tricky thing is that, ashamedly, I had really gone to see the show that night to catch Megafaun. Gather, Form and Fly was all I was spinning at the time, and while that record is on our list, it took a little while for Upper Air to sink in. A week later, we covered the Pitchfork festival, and the trio stunned me. Shortly thereafter, Pichfork also threw up some vids of them playing in an old cathedral (see below). The rest was history for me. This album has been with me in the car, through two breakups, and all of my travels back and forth for the holidays. It’s introspective, gorgeous, and ambitious. Well worth all the acclaim it receives and was not worthy of my initial brush off. Hopefully this makes amends.

“Chimes” may be my favorite track of the year, hoisting a near vaudevillian sound with Beth Tacular’s accordion wails, sitting underneath a darkly strummed classical guitar. Most tracks move this way, but this track is the moneymaker. The album moves through beautifully arranged nu-folk brilliance on tracks like “Northern Lights,” “This Day,” and “Teeth.” Much of this album is about the gut-wrenching haunt that Moore and Tacular’s vocals present. It’s incredibly easy to fall into its clutches, but it probably won’t happen on the first listen. For me, it took quite a few spins in the background before it fully came to life. This certainly isn’t a knock on the album, but more of a nod to its consistent aura. Once the overriding mood sinks in and the songs begin to pop, that’s when the incredible beauty of Upper Air resonates. I’m not sure if any other album in 2009 got this kind of consistent attention from me. “Northern Lights,” for example, manages to inspire me and also lull me into peaceful, lucid moments of complete ease. Sometimes art isn’t an 8.2 or three stars out of four. It’s simply therapeutic for its audience. Word.

Check out the rest of our slowly building “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

Bowerbirds Official Site

Buy Upper Air at Insound now!

Bowerbirds – Northern Light

Bowerbirds – Silver Clouds


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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Harlem Shakes

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.30, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (7 votes cast)

This is, in effect, something of an elegy. Harlem Shakes’ Technicolor Health got a ton of spins at Citizen Dick’s Eastern Campus over the past twelve months (at least partially because Mrs. Citizen fell in love with it on the first listen); there are a couple of songs on the album that are composed of things that I’ve not really heard in the indie-sphere (mainly “Winter Water,” but more on that later) and the songs that don’t strike boldly out into uncharted territory are universally well executed (probably “Niagara Falls” is the best example, but, again, more on that later). The only soft spot to my ear is the titular last track, but even the mildly blase conclusion is palatable as a part of a stellar whole. Add to the studio brilliance of Technicolor Health (their debut long-player) the killer live show Harlem Shakes dropped on Cleveland in early March (ably taking the headlining spot for an under-the-weather Tokyo Police Club) and we all felt that Harlem Shakes were a band we could hang our hat on for a good long while. But they broke up. Bastards. I was gearing up for the sophomore record that built on the ideas of this one and a proper headlining tour complete with triumphant return to Cleveland, but that’s not in the cards. We can hope for great things from Todd Goldstein’s Arms, but we’re not getting more Harlem Shakes in the foreseeable future. (Fellas, if you’re reading this, get back together for me. It’s like my poppy indie rock parents got divorced. Is it my fault? Do you still love me?) So, to sum up, I come to both bury and praise Harlem Shakes.

“Winter Water” is in the running for my favorite song of the year. (It’s the welterweight of the remaining contenders; it’s not going to match the punching power of “Impressions of the Past” or “Gravelly Mountains of the Moon” and it doesn’t have the sneakiness of “Tattoo Mission,” but it is light on its feet. Don’t count it out.) The subdued keyboard intro, slow build, killer hand-claps, spaced-out doo-wop and smart-guy surety make it an absolute winner. Shit, it’s got the greatest ever lyric: “If we are sleeping, we’re sleeping together” and this as a backup: “Learn how to gamble or learn how to swim.” Done and done. I love this thing. “Winter Water” encapsulates what’s good about this record: hooks, cleverness and a willingness to take some risks. There’s a lot of stuff going on in this song. (Is it a stretch to say that is sounds like the lovechild of “Paranoid Android” and “Hey, Mickey?” Probably.) Tack on the easy accessibility of “Niagara Falls” and you’ve got a clear picture of the record: solid pop music made by dudes who considered a lit major at some point.

Thank god for records. Harlem Shakes have shuffled off the squirming coil, but we’ll have Technicolor Health to remember them by for as long as vinyl lasts or hard drives remain uncorrupted. It must have sucked to live in the 1200s; if your favorite lute qaurtet stopped making the rounds of the great halls, you were pretty much screwed. (Also, I’ve heard the plague was a bummer.) We’ll conclude Harlem Shakes’ Viking funeral with two tracks, the aforementioned “Winter Water” and the lead single, “Strictly Game.” (Note: I almost never post tracks that I don’t have express permission to post, but I’m making an exception for “Winter Water.” If you’re Harlem Shakes and/or Gigantic Records and you object, please let me know. If you’re not one of those people, buy the record.)

Harlem Shakes – Winter Water

Harlem Shakes – Strictly Game

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – The Modern Electric

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.30, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (6 votes cast)

It makes me proud to put this one on the list. It’s not homerism, but a legitimate endorsement of a really good record that just happens to be a product of Clevelanders. The Modern Electric could be from Topeka and I’d love this record. For what it is, essentially a really distilled bit of angst, it’s about the best there was this year. Dudes are wailing about loss and heartbreak and all the rest of it, but it sounds good every time. Their range doesn’t get too far out of catharsis, but that’s irrelevant. The cherry on top that is that The Modern Electric call America’s North Coast home, but the actual sundae is composed of the songs themselves.

There are four or five songs on this record that I can’t live without at this point. “David Bowie (Save Us All)” is the tits. I can’t tell you why, but it is the catchiest song ever written by man; it sticks in your brain like (insert piss-poor simile here; something like popcorn in your teeth, but less hacky). Listen to it once and you’re listening to it forever. The zither-like guitar solo in “Sharp as Knives” gets me every time, as does frontman Garret Komyati’s salt-the-fields vocal approach; he’s not good at good-byes, which works out to our benefit. “The Anti Sing-Along” and it’s bombastic piano intro (and deep hookiness and pseudo-Elton John pose) make it a winner. “Mistakes” is just a good song, no embellishment needed.

The Modern Electric were at the Beachland a couple of days ago I had Christmas dinner at my Grandparent’s house, it was snowing and I was tired. I meant to go to the show, but I wound up sitting on my couch. I made the excuse to myself that they’re from here; I can see them whenever I want. My bad. If The Modern Electric drop another record like their self-titled debut, I won’t have the luxury of seeing them whenever I want; cats are going to be touring the world, taking their rust-belt vibe to the globe. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll be at the Beachland on January 15 for the Modern Electric’s next gig.

The Modern Electric – As Sharp as Knives

The Modern Electric – Mistakes

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Akron/Family

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.23, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

akron family coverI feel a smidge guilty about it, but this record requires almost no discussion. There’s no lengthy introduction for this one, no psuedo-academic connection to some broader purpose, no detailed discussion of the album track-by track, no deep analysis of the band’s influences. None of it is needed. This record (I think) transcends the need to talk about it. Listen to it. Soak it in. Dig what the three cats in Akron/Family are telling you. After you do that, listen to it again. Repeat that cycle for a while and you’re good. There’s no soft spot on the record (maybe “MBF,” for it’s odd out-of-placeness, but that’s probably just me playing the contrarian). Love is Simple was a great record as well (“Ed is a Portal” and “Phenomena” are both the kind of songs that everyone that strums an acoustic guitar wishes they’d written) but there were parts of it that you could live without. All of Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free seems vital. Akron/Family seems to have stumbled across a perfect record with this one, honing all of the things that have been easy to love about them for a while and cutting some of the less critical meanderings.

If we have to brass tack it to get this thing by my editors, you need to know the following things: (1) “Gravelly Mountains of the Moon” is my favorite song of the year. Number one with a bullet. As much as I fawn over the pert and streamlined “Two Weeks,” it’s the wandering. eight minute, psychedelic opus that I’m going home with. We’ve got a killer live version below that (sadly, inexplicably, inexcusably) eliminates the “put me in, let me run with the ball” coda, but still gets the job done nevertheless. (2) Seth Olinsky absolutely shreds. Dana Janssen and Miles Seaton are no slouches either. If you’re going to play experimental neo-folk, you’ve got to have chops. These three fellows have them in spades. (3) The album’s closer, “Last Year,” defies description. I’ve got a live version of it that is too lo-fi to post here, wherein the band sings unamplified with the audience. It is mindbending. (4) If you haven’t already bought and digested this thing, you’re missing out. It is the truth. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next Akron/Family record (and hoping that they come to Cleveland. I missed the summer show at the rock hall and they are supposed to be (and all evidence suggests actually are) the cat’s pajamas live). If they’re going to keep making each record better than their previous one, the next one is going to be a doozy.

Akron/Family – River

Akron/Family – Gravelly Mountains of the Moon – Live

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Southeast Engine

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.23, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

southeast engine coverMrs. Citizen got me Hallowed Ground on vinyl for Christmas.  (I know this, even though we’re a few days before Christmas, because we’re bad at keeping secrets.  I’ve managed to keep her gifts under wraps, but this is the first year in memory that I didn’t just hand them over as soon as I got them.)  I love that album (and it’s self-titled predecessor) without reservation or hesitation.  From the jump, you know that the Violent Femmes have abandoned, to a large degree, the adolescent angst that made something like “Kiss Off” or “Prove My Love” work.  “Country Death Song” is a totally different animal, drenched in a more adult kind of pain, dripping with a powerfully creepy religious vibe and, perhaps most importantly, telling a really compelling story.  Everyone relates to the sexually charged non-sequiturs of “Blister in the Sun”  Nobody is on the same page as the narrator in “Country Death Song.”  I’ve listened to that track a thousand times and it still freaks me out.  When Gano holds the note on “never-stopping pain” I still get the goosebumps.  The rest of the record is as good, even if it doesn’t quite ever get the emotional high of the opener; “I Hear the Rain,” “Black Girls” and “Jesus Walking on the Water” are all top-drawer.  Why the lengthy discussion of a 25 year old record today?  I feel like as music listeners, we look for things that remind of us things that we love.  (This is essentially the premise of something like Pandora, right?)  I know that I do this; there are maybe ten albums that I’ll love for the rest of my life because of their presence at my formation as a music lover.  I look for records that give me the same feelings, link the same things together.  I was reading the Aquarium Drunkard’s stellar piece on Source Tags & Codes yesterday and this argument started to gel for me.  I love that record, but it came out when I was 24.  I love it because I loved Fugazi first.  I love it because I loved the first Clash record.  Source Tags & Codes, while amazing, exists for me in the context of everything that came before it for me.  All this to say that there are two records released this year that, to my ear, spring directly from the seeds planted by Hallowed Ground. Southeast Engine’s deliberate and thematic story-telling, decided religious bent and overall vibe owe (in my eyes) a huge debt to the Violent Femmes.  The record doesn’t sound particularly like anything on Hallowed Ground, but it sure as hell feels like it.  (The other record that rings the Femmes bell for me this year is Salvation is a Deep Dark Well from the Builders and the Buthcers.  More on that later this week.)

The record tells the story of a cartographer working for the government to find off-shore oil wells.  As the narrative develops, he realizes how badly he’s compromised himself and ultimately walks into the sea, intent on giving his body back to the land that he helped to defile.  There’s a three song mini-cycle at the beginning of the record that serves to introduce the narrative; I had it wrong in my original review.  Frontman Adam Remnant told us that it was, essentially, a dream sequence at the band’s summer Beachland gig.  There’s no filler on the record, each song serving to both advance the broader narrative.  By moving their cartographer through his guilt, Southeast Engine address what it means to be an American in the new millennium; we’re all driving hard on the highway towards an unlivable land and not really slowing down to notice all the flowers we’re mowing down.  Just as important as the broadly-arching deep themes, each track is catchy as hell.  The moment most reminiscent of Hallowed Ground comes on “Two of Every Kind,” the record’s fifth track.  It details the narrators descent into morally questionable territory.  Remnant sounds like Gano’s murderous farmer, but the tune swings a touch harder.  It’s tough to pull out a favorite song from the record, as none of them suck, but “Two of Every Kind” is in the lead.

For it’s musical acuity, ambitious scope and ability to remind me of the classics (and embedded symbolism, smart-guy allusions, killer musicianship and so on), From the Forest to the Sea is an easy pick for my year end list.  I know that this review was all intro and no meat, but the record speaks for itself.  Listen to this thing (if you haven’t already) and love it.

Southeast Engine – Black Gold

Southeast Engine – From the Roots of the Mountain to Your Holy Temple – Daytrotter Session

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Fever Ray

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.22, 2009
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Rating: 9.8/10 (4 votes cast)

Fever_RayFever Ray’s self-titled 2009 album is, hugely, the biggest left turn on my year end list.  However, I emphatically believe that any short list of albums is replete without this album getting mentioned.  It’s masterful, more accessible than Karin Dreijer’s previous standout material (The Knife), and pulsing with darkness and mystique.  It spans multiple genres, steering into electronica, sultry Swedish pop, and bone-chilling vocal manipulation.  There’s an underlying drone that begins with the opening notes of “If I Had a Heart” and resonates to the final bird-chirping of “Coconut.”  The fullness of this album is magnificent, and there’s no way one listen will emit all of the layers of sound/vibe taking place.  I save this album for darker moments when I need music that mirrors my brooding mood and rising temperature.  It’s teeming with blooming sound and enough ghostly underpinnings to send chills up my spine each run through.  Even without understanding Dreijer’s stellar pedigree, Fever Ray sounds like nothing else released this year, which is saying something in this game.

Fever Ray is a vocal masterpiece on multiple levels.  Our pal Chris over at Culture Bully probably said it best when describing Dreijer’s vocals as “instead of coming off as a monster breathing through a human, with Fever Ray she sounds like a human trapped within a monster’s body.”  This is a pretty solid summation, as I’m typically entranced by Dreijer’s voice and voice manipulation throughout the album.  I’m somehow intricately attached, closely hanging on through the soaring highs and dark, gothic lows of the record.  I’ve worn the grooves off “Concrete Walls” diving deep into its morphed vocals and sludgy synth-driven Celtic vibe.  I suppose this is what draws me to the album.  This isn’t tea-sipping music, and it leaves listeners with a host of conflicting emotions.  The soft wood-block percussion and accessibility of “Keep the Streets Empty for Me,” contrasts the wicked nature of the opener, for example.  Dreijer keeps one foot in the part of my brain that senses terror and tension, but despite all of the mechanical facade, she opens up and gives glimpses of searing light, as well.  The darkness lays underneath everything, but there’s plenty of color from track one to ten.

The uniqueness of Fever Ray was difficult to top this year.  Groundbreaking albums usually, at least for me, require some sort of attachment to genres that work.  Check.  They also must push the envelope and place their own stamp on composition and arrangement.  Double check.  Even through over a hundred spins of the album, I’m still finding things I didn’t hear originally.  This album hits the sonic gas from the get go, and doesn’t let go until….well, it still hasn’t yet.

Check out the rest of our slowly building “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

Fever Ray Official Site

Buy Fever Ray at Insound now!

Fever Ray – When I Grow Up

Fever Ray – If I Had A Heart

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – The Clientele

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.22, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

the_clientele-bonfires_on_the_heathThis October album, as crisp as fall leaves, The Clientele have firmly established themselves as the class of the independent music world.  Bonfires on the Heath is, in all actuality, the most impeccably produced and arranged album I’ve heard in quite a few years.  From open to close, the album screams intelligence and production value.  The band’s been moving this way with each subsequent album, but the 2009 effort, in my opinion, takes the cake and can walk with as much swagger as Strange Geometry.  At times, if it’s indeed possible, The Clientele make jangly psych/folk sound full on symphonic, and tracks pop off with a pristine and clean purity.  Within seconds, the vinyl was on pre-order, an excellent move. It’s been one of my closely guarded favorites; it’s beauty is relatively unmatched this year.  Not one track is weak and in the age of singles and mp3 scattering, it’s comforting to know full albums aren’t dead.

“Harvest Time” had me hooked from the start with its dissonant piano arpeggios and drippingly nonchalant vocals, but in an interesting twist from the norm, the first leaked MP3 doesn’t necessarily give too heavy of a preview into the effort as a whole.  It’s probably the most brooding of the lot, as a majority of the album sprinkles the kitchen sink of instruments into more up-tempo arrangements.  Gently bouncing guitar chords create ass-shaking rhythms, but avoid jarring the smoothed out edges of the production.  As mentioned in my full late September review, listeners are cornered into decision making often throughout.  On one hand the sigh-inducing lull is impossible to ignore, but I typically find myself dancing around the house and I cannot pinpoint why.  Perhaps it’s the upstroke guitar work that heavily inundates a majority of the album.  Most tracks are catchy, but they spare the audience by not delving into pop sensibilities; they keep the trippy ambience alive.  “Tonight” is the 50’s diner track we’ve all heard before but loved every damn time, soft pianos sitting in the forefront while vocals force sing-alongs immediately. To summate the beauty of the album is difficult because each track rather blends together into a unifying structure.  Each listen brings these sprawling and gorgeous pieces to life.  It’s the mixture of the dreamy and the frenetic that works so well.  Another noteworthy aspect is the lyricism.  Oftentimes underscored by the musical arrangements, the pining lyricism meshes exceptionally well.  Tracks weave through pain, rejoicing, and all out catharsis.  Interestingly enough, it matches the sound.  Listeners dive down and reach upward, soaring and plummeting with each song.

I’m going to sign off speaking of the record because my review spelled it out pretty well, and truthfully, I could ramble for hours.  In an indie world (perhaps plagued) by overdone sludge and flawed recording, The Clientele sit accordingly on a pedestal; the refreshing stiff-arm to sloppy garage rock was music to my ears this year.  Snag the album below if for some strange reason it slipped past you.  A 2009 collection without this staunch giant is sorely lacking.

Check out the rest of our slowly building “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

The Clientele Official Site

Buy Bonfires on the Heath at Insound now!

The Clientele – I Wonder Who We Are

The Clientele – Harvest Time

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Fanfarlo

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.21, 2009
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Rating: 8.7/10 (3 votes cast)

Fanfarlo - ReservoirIn my review of Reservoir earlier this year, I immediately referenced Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and David Byrne within the first paragraph, either mildly pointing to my lunacy or, perhaps, marking that I was right on the money.  We’ve seen imitations and reference points to the sound of The Talking Heads for years, and I’ve never been a fan, with the one rare exception being CYHSY’s self-titled debut in 2004.  Not a single album I’ve ever listened to encapsulated an entire season (Summer) for me like that album did.  Reservoir quickly becomes my second exception, a huge sonic blast of incredibly high quality and infectious energy.  At no point on the album does the band overreach to the point of gimmick, and when the dust settles, there are around six tracks that leave their thumbprint on the hugely successful musical year that’s closing in a few short days.

Fanfarlo was a breath of fresh air in 2009, emblazoning a signature summery vibe into my listening pile.  This incredibly mature album brings out all the bells and whistles of intelligent arrangement and packages it in swirling, epic, and lofty tracks that are easily ingrained and take forever to leave your noggin.  “I’m a Pilot” is one of the best album openers of the year, as it sets time and pace and signifies the sonic landscape that arcs throughout the entire record.  In my review of the album, I alluded to a summer trip, a random stop at a diner in the middle of nowhere where I played “Road to Nowhere” on the jukebox, startling the locals into toe-tapping uncertainty.  In much the same way, Reservoir is largely about feeling, it’s primarily upbeat tempo gallops nicely aside meaningful vocal brilliance and sharp musicianship.  “Luna” is the track picked up quickly by the media and advertising vultures, but despite the commercial nature of the song, it’s a gorgeous example of the album.  Tracks are catchy, pumped full of life, and if listened to in the right situation, this energy is transmitted directly to the listeners without trite rehashing of influences.  Early on, I mentioned that this album would hold water on its own despite it’s obvious comparisons.

Tracks like “Ghosts” and “Drowning Men” pronounce the band’s talent, with crushing synthesizer riffs, blitzing percussion, and emotionally piping hot vocals.  “Comets” rolls in a warbly singing saw and horn sections.  In short, this album has nearly everything a classic indie rock record should.  For me, at least, it never grows old, despite repeated spins over the last six months.  What a pleasure it was to snag this album early on.  From top to bottom, this lush collection of tunes stands at the top and I’d argue that it holds its own against just about any record released this year.  Enjoy “I’m A Pilot” and “Luna” below, but to really appreciate it, you’ll have to score it in its entirety.

Check out the rest of our slowly building “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

Fanfarlo Official Site

Buy Reservoir at Insound now!

Fanfarlo – I’m A Pilot

Fanfarlo – Luna

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – A. A. Bondy

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.21, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (4 votes cast)

A. A. BondyFull disclosure:  You could lock me in a room and play “The Mercy Wheel” three hundred times in a row and I’ll only grow stronger and more resolute in my already lofty opinions on the beauty of When The Devil’s Loose.  Bondy weaves a wicked web of edgy folk, spanning basic country croons to higher decibel and reverbed folk anthems.  Similarly to Vetiver’s Tight Knit, this album took a few spins to draw me in, and this is probably fitting.  There’s a lot to digest on this album, and its initial visage of simplistic folk becomes shattered on repeat listens.  Pitchfork lauded the musical effort, but had reservations on the overall lyrical content of the album.  Dear readers, let me ask you this:  Should you side with the grad school Pitchfork intern regarding lyrical quality, or a literature teacher?  I read the Pitchfork review, and agree wholeheartedly about the musical merit of Bondy’s effort.  Nowhere in the review, however, do I see anything resembling a coherent thought regarding the lyrical nature of this album.  In fact, Bondy’s pen is wicked sharp and the overriding metaphors of life, death, harvest, fertility, and immortality are abundant and subtly injected into each heartfelt track.

The album is smooth all the way through, and Bondy’s patent raspy voice remains loud and clear, but never overshadows his brilliant guitar work.  I got the chance to head down to Musica to see Bondy perform a few weeks ago, and while his live act is a little more distortion driven and eclectic, he does an excellent job evoking emotion and presents his material in ways most acts could not achieve.  Interestingly, Bondy dove into an ear piercing feedback digression three times during the set, and anyone who arrived in Akron to hear a “simple” folk show left the venue a little left of center.  I suppose this matches When the Devil’s Loose, but not necessarily in sound.  The musicianship is rich, yet simple.  As listeners frolic through the blossoming record, they know Bondy’s capable of more complex material; the enjoyment of this record is that Bondy’s lack of pretense drops an amazingly sincere, bare-bones effort directly in our laps.  We can look at (insert snarky blogsite here)’s 2009 list and find a myriad of artists attempting to jar something loose sonically, or at the very least, pull listeners in with complexity.  What separates Bondy’s effort is that it comes across as effortless, an incredible mixture of words and music, raw and lean enough to discern, evaluate, and fall in love with.

When I sat down to write this wrap-up review of the album, I had an outline of sorts, moving through the album’s lyrical consistency, its completely full tone, and exemplary melting together of mood, hook, and ambience.  In fact, I have the album spinning on the turntable as I write this.  Brian has often alluded to a kind of “longevity” stamp we place on meritorious albums.  Of the thousands of highlight points I could mention for When the Devil’s Loose, I suppose the most ringing endorsement I can give is that I’ll be listening to this for the rest of my life.  “A Slow Parade,” “Oh the Vampyre,” and “False River” have been mainstays throughout the year, and will most certainly enter my own personal canon.  There’s a soft delicacy that’s difficult to describe, and the heartwarming balladry is bound to hit a chord for nearly any listener from any camp.

Check out the rest of our slowly building “Best Albums of 2009″ list.

A. A. Bondy Official Site

Buy When the Devil’s Loose at Insound now!

A. A. Bondy – I Can See The Pines Are Dancing

A. A. Bondy – When the Devil’s Loose

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Megafaun

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.18, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

megafaun coverYou know, I’m sure, that Pitchfork is pumping out their best 50 albums of 2009 list this week.  Today, in fact, you can see the records that Pitchfork deemed 25th best through absolute 1st best.  That’s how those cats do things: project an image of certainty and finality through the ascription of meaningless quantifiers to something that is inherently qualitative in nature.  (I’m going to have to quote Dead Poet’s Society here.  Believe me, I don’t want to, but it absolutlely fits my nascent thesis.  Apologies for tapping the hackneyed, treacly side of education.)  In the immortal words of John Keating, “We’re not laying pipe! We’re talking about poetry. How can you describe poetry like American Bandstand? ‘I like Byron, I give him a 42, but I can’t dance to it!’”  Yes!  Poetry (and, obviously, indie music) is about how we feel, how we connect, what happens to our insides as a result of sonic bombardment.  It’s not about saying that Yo La Tengo (29) is seven spots better than Dinosaur Jr. (36).  Those labels mean nothing.  We’ve told you from the jump, constant reader, that we were going to tell you about good music that we like.  Screw “5 star” ratings or “9.7″ scores.  They are fundamentally worthless.  There’s no real way to capture with numbers the way that great records make you feel.  For instance, to bring it around to today’s topic, there’s no way for me to put Megafaun’s Gather, Form and Fly on a hierarchical list with other albums that came out in the same arbitrarily defined time period.  I can only say that I love Megafaun’s sophomore effort and that I will be listening to it with my children (assuming an asteroid does not hit the world before they would be old enough to savor the record’s intricacy.  I’m crossing my fingers on this whole Apophis thing.)

Bury the Square was one of my favorites of 2008, so I was primed for the release of Gather, Form and Fly.  The experimental streak that makes Megafaun so appealing is tempered with an incredible ear for catchy off-kilter new-country songs.  Megafaun are just as likely to use found sound on Gather, Form and Fly (as in the water sounds on “Darkest Hour”) as they are to use soaring and classically beautiful multiple part harmonies (pretty much every song on the record).  The far out stuff pulls the listener in, the folky stuff keeps the listener close.  Risk takers can dance to close to the mainstream ear (Blitzen Trapper, perhaps) or never get close enough to catchiness to garner mass attention and praise (AIDS Wolf, maybe).  Megafaun keep the spirit of something like “Drains” while opening up the sound for a broader audience.  It’s a tricky move, but one that Megafaun performs adroitly.

It’s impossible to peg my favorite song on Gather, Form and Fly.  I don’t grab one song from the record, I just hit play on “Bella Marie” and ride the train to the end of the record.  I love “Impressions of the Past” maybe a bit more than the rest of the record, for it’s meandering genius.  I love the gaps on the title track, especially the way they look on vinyl, little chasms of pure black.  I love the idiosyncracy of “Guns.”  I love it all.

Megafaun could not miss in 2009:  Gather, Form and Fly will be on my turntable well into the next decade; the video for “Impressions of the Past” was insanely cool; if their show in Cleveland was any indication, they are one of the best live acts on the planet; and they put out a Christmas song via Hometapes eight days of Christmas that immediately jumps into the pantheon of holiday songs that aren’t lame.  (The short list, by the way: The Pogues – “Fairytale of New York,” The Waitresses – “Christmas Wrapping” and Akim and the Teddy Van All-Stars -”Santa Claus is a Black Man.”  All other Christmas songs are, to one degree or another, lame.)  Given that 2008 was a good year for the boys as well, I’m hoping for the hat trick in 2010.

Megafaun – Kaufman’s Ballad

Megafaun – I Saw Three Ships

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – Vetiver

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.14, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (3 votes cast)

Vetiver_Tight_KnitFor a majority of albums on our “Best Albums of 2009 List,” I could determine from the jump that they were going to be on perpetual repeat.  I’m usually pretty good about culling albums categorically within one or two listens.  Vetiver’s Sub Pop release, Tight Knit, defied all logic for me this year.  Without exaggeration, I rejected this album immediately and put it in the trash bin after one listen.  There was something grating about the hype surrounding the early-year release, and perhaps I wandered haphazardly into the record with too many expectations.  Most intriguing, is that I believe I entered in half expecting to hate it.  While this isn’t a smart move, sometimes I can’t break away from preconceived opinions.  As time eroded, I gradually picked up the album again, mainly due to strong urging from Brian and James, both of whom absolutely sang the record’s praises.  Early on, Brian referred to the album as “Sunday Morning Music,” and I wanted desperately to make Tight Knit somehow fit.  I wanted a Sunday Morning album, and after several spins, it slowly blossomed into my sidekick.  I’ve worn the grooves off of this album, and as the lazy summer months drifted along, it actually became the album that I’ll identify most with in 2009.  Calming and impeccably produced folk-rock of incredibly quality bursts forward from this album.  Like a smooth latte, Vetiver’s panache for subtle ear candy is now my Sunday Morning album.  I wake up, snag a coffee, and listen to it from top to bottom.  This ritual will, no doubt, continue into the new year.

Whether it’s the soothing finger-picking of “Rolling Sea” or the edgy downtown urban aura of “Another Reason to Go,” Tight Knit is solid in all areas.  Andy Cabic manages to create an overriding aura of sound that’s, at the very least, consistent through all tracks.  In Brian’s February review of the album, he referred to this sound as a “sonic blanket,” and this is an accurate descriptor.  Even when Cabic moves the instrumentation out of quieter folk arrangement and into more upbeat tempos, the sound never fails to relax the shoulders and take listeners into a comfortable place.  I’ve described this album to pals in a host of ways, particularly “warm milk,” “silky softness,” and “comfort food.”  When the dust settles, I run out of super-music-blogger-lingo and I begin to use adjectives that would best describe a comforting meal.  Bluntly, this is an album to be thoroughly enjoyed, not critically dissected.  “Everyday,” included below, was flying around the interwebs early, and regardless of how many times I hear it, I’ll still describe it as near perfection.  Everything has soft edges on this record, and damn, it feels good to relax the joints and turn things down occasionally.

Another facet of Vetiver worth noting is how well this entire album translates live.  Brian, Rob, and I rolled over to The Grog Shop early this summer and caught Cabic and his traveling band.  Not only were they about as chilled out as their music, a professional swagger accompanies the band on stage.  Each track bloomed in a live setting.  Hipsters shook their asses, left the trendy t-shirts at home, and hung out for awhile.  As Brian succinctly stated in his review of the album, “This is a near perfect distillation of the emotional tenor of the album as a whole.  I’ve not heard a more perfect soundtrack for a lazy Sunday morning in a while.  As such, I’ve got a go to new go-to album for my quilted robe moments.”  While I wasn’t initially in his corner on this one, I’m super pleased I gave in and let this album enter the discussion.  If for some strange reason you didn’t include this on your radar this year, pick it up pronto.  Enjoy the two tracks below, as well as a live video from the show we caught earlier this year.

Vetiver Official Site

Buy Tight Knit at Insound Now!

Vetiver – Strictly Rule

Vetiver – Everyday



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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best Albums of 2009 – Pontiak

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.13, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

pontiak_maker_coverAs we roll through our “Best Albums of 2009” list, inevitably we’re going to have a few albums that aren’t showing up everywhere else.  From what I can gather, Pontiak’s Maker isn’t garnering anywhere near as much praise as it should be at the close of the year.  In my March review of Maker, I began with an anecdote about lugging a Marshall stack up my buddy’s barn steps and how we dropped it, giving me a bum ankle but leaving the amp entirely unscathed.  I alluded to backyard jam sessions of my high school years, and beer-binged nights filled with distortion and carefree rock n’ roll.  Lain, Jennings, and Van Carney don’t sip tea.  They make mistakes, they don’t play pop songs, and they sure as hell love the fury of loud post-rock anthems.  This album is taut with grainy and rough intensity, as the Virginian trio manage to beautifully harness their rural upbringing and artistic ability into a fireball of crunchy attitude.  Most of the tracks were recorded in one live take with an amplifier that blew midway through the album’s conception.  Shit, leave the hissing amplifier in.  It adds to the unabashedly real feel behind this record.  Maker‘s been my go-to album when I need a little sludgy pep in my wanderings.  If this flew past you, then you’ve got no reason to sit idly.

The album begins with “Laywayed,” which I’ve included below.  Throughout the album, the trio infuses super intriguing vocals into the fray.  Because they’re all brothers, a creepy harmony unfolds, almost as if triple-dubbed voices sail underneath the music.  The fine folks at Thrill Jockey Records released a whole loot of loud albums this year (Double Dagger, White Hills, Tortoise), all good albums, but none popped off with as much raw grimace as Pontiak brings to the table.  An interesting dichotomy exists on the album.  Every second or third track, the band launches into complete freakout mode, breaking guitar strings and loading up the feedback to ear splitting levels.  Lodged between these descents are tracks that incorporate blues heavy riffs and nearly Wiccan vibes.  Psychedelic rock absolutely requires flaws to sustain itself.  I’ve always believed this.  The sailing vocals and pummeling riff of “Wild Knife Night Fight” and the dark psycho-tripping “Honey” glue the jam session tracks together.  The incredibly ambitious 13:30 of the album’s title track manages to leave listeners stunned; I can’t believe that a majority of this album was recorded in a cramped 12×12 room.  “Wax Worship” is a track I always listen to with an enemy in mind, macabre oohs and ahhs and shifting tempo delicious enough to hit the repeat button, but spiraling enough to keep me sneering.

This makes it to our list with a minor caveat.  Don’t go into this expecting an easy-listening experience, and additionally, play it loud.  I suppose, to me, what makes a great record is how sincere it is in creation and arrangement.  All facets of the backdrop for Maker’s creation suggest that listeners will get what’s advertised.  The Carney brothers are prolific, already releasing an EP, Sea Voids in November, and a third full length on tap at the start of the year.  Here’s to hoping they keep the sludgy barrage coming.  For me, at least, Maker stands out as a brilliant example of one-take recording.  Dudes absolutely shred.

Pontiak Official Site

Snag Maker at Insound now!

Pontiak – Laywayed

Pontiak – Honey

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Citizen Dick Retrospective – Best of 2009 – The Low Anthem

Filed Under: Best Albums of 2009
Dec.13, 2009
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Rating: 10.0/10 (2 votes cast)

The-low-anthem-coverAt the tail end of the summer, The Low Anthem rolled through Cleveland, a mere pit stop en route to Lollapalooza in Chicago.  As we’ve mentioned throughout the year, this is pretty typical.  Cleveland hosts the late Tuesday night shows as road weary musicians make the trek across the midwest.  It’s a rare occasion that the stars align and our favorite acts arrive in town on a weekend.  As the trio launched into “To Ohio” from Oh My God, Charlie Darwin, time essentially slowed and location became a non-issue.  To me, this June release seems as though it’s been on my turntable since January.  The lush harmonies and wicked narrative undercurrents of this gem far outreach its contemporaries in Americana influenced rock.  Whether it’s the sharp metaphorical lyricism of its title track, or the soothing balladry of “Ticket Taker,” the album soars and mystifies from top to bottom.

Last night, I went for a drive with a lady friend of mine and I played “To The Ghosts Who Write History Books” along the way.  Her immediate response mirrors the response I give the many of the songs on the album.  “This song is moving,” she naively replied, having no previous attachment to The Low Anthem.  I think this is what struck me from the starting gun.  The album intertwines earthy tones and intriguingly ambiguous lyrical content better than most, if not all, albums I’ve listened to in 2009.  In the previously mentioned song, the WWI pump organ drones incessantly in the background, evoking smoother, simpler times.  Lyrics unabashedly cover a myriad of topics, as well, throughout the record.  Slave narratives (“To Ohio”), extended metaphors (“Ticket Taker” and “Cage the Songbird”), and boot stomping bar tracks (“omgcd” and “The Horizon is a Beltway”) all rip through the album in the most intelligent way.  Discerning listeners fall deep into the aura of the album.  The tug of war between upbeat and solemn dirge is well-played, as well.  The instant you’ve got your thumb on the band’s sound, they shift into Tom Waits covers and bopping rock n’ roll.  Clarinets, chimes, soft percussion, that pump organ, harmonicas, and subtle synthesizers pepper the record.

As I write this, I’ve found that it’s more difficult than I initially expected, despite the fact that I reviewed it fully months ago.  When you spend so much time with a record, it’s difficult to describe and explain its value in minuscule phrases.  To me, this album represents the entire year.  I can’t remember a time when the vinyl wasn’t directly next to my turntable, or the CD version wasn’t sitting in my in-dash.  I’ve played this album hundreds of times this year, and its staying power is noteworthy, as the masterful arranging piques interest or uncovers a new nuance I didn’t catch originally.  As a literature teacher, I think I warm up to the lyrical effort, but that wouldn’t necessarily stand alone without the powerful music attached to it.  Tracks speak of the inevitability of death and the cyclical nature of all things natural.  It moves through pining ballads of pain and calming poems of individual triumph.  When performing live, the band rolls in wearing dusty outfits as if they’re coming straight from an abandoned mine shaft.  They’re also all ivy league educated.  This juxtaposition initially screams “forced” but one spin through the album will justify how well they pull off this unique blend of image and sound.  Maybe that’s what endears me to the album.  At no time does the record seem forced or trite, despite the risk the band takes hearkening back to genres that once were.  Instead, a lush and gorgeous album is the result.  They took a hack for the fences with OMGCD and knocked it out of the park.

Enjoy the album’s title track, as well as two live cuts we took from their summer show at The Grog Shop, including “To Ohio” and “Ticket Taker.”  I’ve also included the wicked video for “Charlie Darwin.”  Pick this album up via our link if you’ve not had the chance to listen.

The Low Anthem Official Site

Buy Oh My God, Charlie Darwin via Insound now!

The Low Anthem – Charlie Darwin

The Low Anthem – Ticket Taker (Live at Grog Shop)

The Low Anthem – To Ohio (Live at Grog Shop)

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