Band Wars--More Matchups

Well, here's to the Democrats absolutely destroying the Party of Almost Dead White Guys this year.  The best part is that the Republican party doesn't seem to realize that it is, indeed, dying.  In the recent election, not a single person under the age of 94 voted Republican.  That's right, everyone else voted Democrat.  I saw that on the Internet somewhere.

And now, with politics out of the way, we move on to another round of band wars.

Once we finish these two matchups, we'll officially have reviewed half of the albums competing this time around.

Anyhoo, in matchup #1 we pit

Guided by Voices, Class Clown Spots a UFO

Pitchfork review; Allmusic review

versus

Twin Shadow, Confess

Pitchfork review; Allmusic review

These two bands--and albums--are different in so many ways.  Guided by Voices has a rougher, garage sound.  At its worst, their albums sound like they were recorded poorly, so that the album sounds like it was recorded on a tape deck.  (With Bee Thousand, their best album, maybe it was.)  This album sounds cleaner than many of their previous ones.  Aside from that, GBV's sound is fairly standard indie rock.

Here's the best song from this album, the title track:

Then you have Twin Shadow.  Confess is one of the slickest sounding albums that I have ever heard.  He imitates eighties musicians.  Now, according to Allmusic.com and Pitchfork.com, this imitation--and the slickness of his music--are both a good thing.  Here's "Five Seconds."  I think you'll see what I mean.

I don't know.  What do you think?  Because my feeling is that although GBV's album is far from one of their best--yes, this is another group that peaked in a past decade--this album by Twin Shadow is absolute crap . . . unless you want to use it as an example of bad music, in which case it provides an excellent example.  The video for "Five Seconds" above is about the only thing in the world that seems more annoying than listening to the song "Five Seconds."  Twin Shadow took all of the pop eighties music he could get his hands on.  With it, he crafted more pop eighties tunes.  My question: Who the fuck wants to hear pop eighties tunes?  If the answer is a guilty yes, then why not buy Prince's greatest hits?  You'll be far better off.

But who am I?  Not a music reviewer, surely.  I'm probably wrong, and the pros are probably right.

Still, Band Wars belongs to me.  Even though the other reviewers label Twin Shadow's Confess as "Best New Music," I'm sticking with Guided by Voices.

So far, this was the weakest of all of the matchups.

In another pairing, we see

Bob Mould, Silver Age

Pitchfork review; Allmusic review

going up against

DIIV, Oshin

Pitchfork review; Allmusic review

Bob Mould has been around for a long time.  A long, long time.  He's making solo albums these days, but if you enjoy Silver Age, which is quite good, then I recommend that you go back and start looking into his earlier band named Husker Du.  They pumped out a lot of good, harder rocking indie tunes.

Silver Age is really not much different.  Many of the songs are excellent.  It's a relief to hear a band rocking out as much as this one does, in light of the recent trend of whispery, almost apologetic indie albums clogging up the Innerwebs.

For example, try "The Descent."

Then there's DIIV's Oshin.  As I was listening to this album, I kept wondering, Where have I heard these songs before?  I couldn't figure it out, and it was driving me nuts.  Then finally it hit me: they sound just like Real Estate (except not as good).  You know the sound.  Summery guitar-jangling tunes with mellow vocals and the slightest--or strongest--hint of surf music.  Music to play for car trips, picnics, or general flights of nostalgia.  Here's "Doused."

The music-review websites would have this appear to be a tough choice.  Allmusic favors Bob Mould; Pitchfork gives its stronger review to DIIV.

In this case, I'm siding with Allmusic.  After I checked out Silver Age, I immediately hopped online and started downloading the old Husker Du albums that I hadn't yet listened to.  I thought, How could I have forgotten about this guy?  Which I suppose was part of his goal in releasing his new album.

As for DIIV, the album is pretty good.  Just not as good as anything Bob Mould would ever put out.

And now for the updated brackets:

So, halfway done with the first round.  Looking forward to the next set of matchups, I'm excited about seeing if the Walkmen, one of my favorite bands, can advance.  I also get the feeling looking at the as-yet-untested bands that the right side of both brackets above seem significantly better than the bands on the left side.  In particular, the bottom right section of the lower bracket above seems far and away the strongest.  Four Tet, Grizzly Bear, Matthew Dear, and Hot Chip are all indie powerhouses.  All four are strong contenders to win the competition, yet they're all stuck in the same section, so obviously only one of those bands can get through the first two rounds.

Band Wars 2--First Round Continues

This post will be briefer than earlier music-review posts.  I don't really have a reason for it, except that I am feeling more flippant to the music this time around.  And my attitude isn't a reflection on the quality of the albums--unless I'm unaware of it.  So without further ado, here goes.

Sun Kil Moon, Among the Leaves

Pitchfork review, Allmusic review

vs.

How to Dress Well, Total Loss

Pitchfork review, Allmusic review

 

Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon has been around for a long time.  He was part of Red House Painters before Sun Kil Moon, and he's got lots of good albums under his belt.  Tom Krell of How to Dress Well hasn't been around nearly as long.  Sun Kil Moon's Among the Leaves is standard, mellow, confessional indie rock, somewhat in the mold--at times--of Nick Drake.  Here is "Elaine":

Tom Krell's music comes closer to R&B than anything else.  "Cold Nites."

Neither album is fantastic.  They're both just pretty good.  When I finished them both, I asked myself the question that I usually ask: Which one do I want to hear again in the next round?  The answer was the Sun Kil Moon album.  Both of the music-review websites disagree with me, so keep that in mind if you're curious about How to Dress Well's new album.

Next matchup--

Animal Collective, Centipede Hz

Pitchfork review, Allmusic review

against Tame Impala, Lonerism

Pitchfork review, Allmusic review

If you aren't aware of Animal Collective, then I recommend them highly.  However, I don't recommend this album, which is not one of their best.  It seems a bit like a step backward.  You should give Sung Tongs or Merriweather Post Pavilion a try.  Both albums are absolutely excellent.  In a nutshell, Animal Collective makes experimental indie pop music by using lots of found sounds and by creating lots of unusual sounds of their own and planting them in their songs.  Definitely unusual music.  There's nothing else like it out there.  One of the better tracks from this album is "Today's Supernatural."

Tame Impala's Lonerism is a fantastic new album by an Australian dude who makes space rock and sounds like John Lennon. Those two qualifications are enough to get Tame Impala to the next round. This track is called "Elephant."

While Animal Collective is by far the better music group, their new album sort of sucks.

Here are the updated brackets:

Band Wars 2: Two More Opening Matchups

In this weekly installment, we have some pretty interesting matchups.  First, we have

Frank Ocean, Channel Orange

Pitchfork review and Allmusic review

up against The Sea and Cake's Runner

Pitchfork review and Allmusic review

Frank Ocean's album is one of the few R&B albums that I considered for this round of band wars because, frankly, a lot of R&B albums are shit these days.  But Channel Orange is absolutely fantastic.  The lyrics of so many of these songs tell a series of stories, and almost all of them are interesting.  From drug addiction ("Crack Rock") to the lives of rich kids ("Rich Kids," "Sweet Life") to his story of first love ("Thinkin Bout You"), you feel like a listener as if you are diving into something that is both person and important at the same time.  And as I said, I'm not much of a fan of R&B.  So you know that this has to be good.  Pitchfork agrees with a 9.5/10 rating, perhaps the highest the website has given in a year for a new issue.  Allmusic gives the album 4 1/2 stars (out of 5).

Here's "Sweet Life"

The Sea and Cake have long been one of my favorite bands.  Top 20 at least.  Lead singer Sam Prekop has a relaxed, lazy delivery that fits well with such a mellow band.  At its best, it's just really good chill music.  At its worst, the album finishes and you can't even remember what you just heard.  If you want to get into this band, Runner is not the place to start.  Instead, try any of their first four albums: The Sea and Cake, Nassau, The Biz, and The Faun.  They're a solid indie band, but Frank Ocean by almost any review has released one of the best albums of the year.

Anyhoo, here is "Harps."

In the next matchup, we pit

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Mature Themes

Pitchfork review and Allmusic review

against Mount Eerie, Clear Moon

Pitchfork review and Allmusic review

As with the first matchup, we have two very different types of albums competing against one another.  We start with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's Mature Themes, a title which as tongue-in-cheek as the songs themselves.  The album has the zaniness of Captain Beefheart or Frank Zappa, in that it experiments with a half-dozen musical genres.  And the lyrics are wacky and jokey, such as the following from "Is This the Best Spot":

Is this the best spot, is this the spot?
Is this the best spot, is this the spot?
Go! The best spot, is this the spot?
Is this the best spot, is this the spot?
G-spot, (is this the best spot?), H-bomb
G-spot, H-bomb, let's go!

In another song, the dude takes a break from his singing to order fast food.  So mature?  Not exactly.  But wacky and imaginative enough to be fun.  For some.  In all honesty, this album comes down to your tolerance for weirdness.  If you can handle it, then you'll enjoy playing this album every once in a while.  But you'll probably want to play it with no one around, because inevitably someone is going to want to turn that silliness off.  Here is "Only in My Dreams"

Then you have Ariel Pink's opponent, the band Mount Eerie.  Which is quiet, soothing music, so humbly played that the lead singer rarely rises above a whisper.  Clear Moon is great late-night mood music, and the album is good.  My only issue with it is that, as with The Sea and Cake's Runner, it seems kind of boring.  I guess the challenge with such mellow music is that it's hard to pull off without the boredom problem.  Yo La Tengo can do it with their mellowest songs, and they do it album after album.  Maybe Clear Moon just takes some getting used to.  Here's the best track on Clear Moon, "Lone Bell."

Pitchfork and Allmusic would have the contest appear closer than it seemed to me.  Pitchfork prefers Ariel Pink (8.5/10) over Mount Eerie (8.3/10) by a nose.  Allmusic gives both albums four stars out of five.  For me, Ariel Pink's Mature Themes is takes the greater risks, has more fun, and seems more interesting.  Especially because the last song on the album is a straight-up R&B remake named "Baby," which is sung with such earnest emotion that the listener realizes that Ariel Pink may be joking around, but he knows he's joking around.  In other words, the dude ain't crazy.

So, here are the updated brackets:

A few first-round matchups that I am especially looking forward to: Hot Chip vs. Matthew Dear (one of my new favorite artists), Four Tet vs. Grizzly Bear (two powerhouse bands), Animal Collective vs. Tame Impala, and TNGHT vs. the Walkmen (who have been one of my favorite bands since they released their first album).

Anyhoo, that's that.  Have a good week.

Band Wars 2: Two Opening Matchups

Now is a better time than any to start a new round of band wars.  In this post, I'll cover two matchups, one from each division of 16.  Before I begin though, I made a couple of changes.  First, I dropped out one of the two Mount Eerie albums, because I don't have it.  Thought I did, but didn't.  Second, I replaced the band The Motion Sickness of Time Travel, a decent band, with a new release by Tame Impala, which has been getting glowing reviews.  I think that these changes will lead to a new and improved competition.

So without further ado, here is the first of two matchups.

John Maus, A Collection of Rarities and Previously Unreleased Material

Pitchfork review and Allmusic review

vs.

Beach House, Bloom

Pitchfork review and Allmusic review

John Maus plays retro experimental electronic music with a dark sense of humor, as you might guess from songs titled "I Don't Eat Human Beings" and "My Hatred Is Magnificent."  In this collection of songs from 1999 until 2010, the earlier tracks seem better than the later ones.  Whenever I see an album with "Previously Uncollected" in the title or anything like that, I'm expecting trash songs with a few gems.  That holds true to an extent, but there are many more gems that I had expected.  Also, the trash songs aren't so trashy--or if they are, they've got some redeeming quality, like funny lyrics.  He also sounds like Ian Curtis of Joy Division.  Here's "Bennington," probably the best track on the album.

Beach House's Bloom was released to universally sparkling reviews.  Pitchfork went so far as to give it 9.1/10, which basically means that the reviewer jizzed his shorts.  The thing about Beach House is that their sound does not evolve much from album to album.  As they've said in recent interviews, they like where they've ended up and basically don't want to mess with a bad thing.  They've got a soaring, neo-psychedelic sound that reminds me in some ways of shoegaze.  Here's "Myth."

I surprised myself here.  I expected Beach House to win.  It was close, by the album by John Maus is just more creative, original, and interesting.  So Beach House is an unexpected first-round faceplant.

I imagine that Beach House fans will think this loss is a piece of shit, but let's not forget that band wars is a dictatorship, not a democracy.  I pit the bands against one another.  Then I toss the loser into the woodchipper.

Anyhoo, our other matchup pits Dan Deacon's America

Pitchfork review and Allmusic review

against Japandroids, Celebration Rock

Pitchfork review and Allmusic review

I should begin by saying that there is disagreement amongst the music review websites about which album is best.  Pitchfork votes for Japandroids over Dan Deacon by a score of 8.8 to 7.1, which Allmusic opts for Dan Deacon with 4 1/2 stars to 3 1/2 stars for Japandroids.

Celebration Rock is aptly named.  Despite starting and ending with fireworks, they give you rocking party music full of lots of uplifting lyrics.  Normally, this is not my cake at all.  If you're a fan of Superchunk, then these guys are right up your alley.  Here's "The House that Heaven Built."

Dan Deacon's America is a wildly experimental electronic album that, even though it sounds like nothing I've ever heard before, is the type of music that I should really be enjoying.  My problem is that it is so freaking active.  Allmusic calls the album "impossibly enthusiastic electro-pop."  I would emphasize the word impossibly.  It's incredible in many ways, but it can get so fucking annoying.  I don't want to hear this album again for a long while.  I type these lines knowing that I thought the same thing on my first listen of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, which is now one of my all-time favorite albums.  Here is "True Thrush."

Anyhoo, Dan Deacon is DOA.  Japandroids advance with a solid, upbeat rocker.

Here are the updated brackets:

More results in the next couple days.

Band Wars 2: The Revenge

I figure that it's just about time to start with Band Wars 2.  The last first incarnation happened in May.  At the time, I included only recent releases.  In this version, I am only including albums that have been released since the end of Band Wars 1.  By the way, the winner that time around was M83's Hurry Up, You're Dreaming, a tremendous album.

Here are the results of Band Wars 1 if you're curious:

My process was simple.  Play two competing albums back to back, then choose a winner.  To win, the best album had to be catchy enough to survive a first listen but have enough staying power to still sound good on the fourth.  I tried to be fair and ended up surprising myself several times.  Youth Lagoon, for instance, is a first album by some undergrad--I think--up in Idaho.  His Year of Hibernation was consistently strong.

Anyhoo, this time around I am going to double the size of the competition.  In order to represent 32 bands--rather than 16--I found the need, due to my inept Paint skills, to create two brackets.

A comment or two about Division 1 (above).  It is the weaker division.  (That's my guess anyway; I haven't listened to all of these albums yet.)  You will notice that Mount Eerie is represented in this division and in Division 2 (below).  That's because Mount Eerie has released two albums in the last few months.  Some of the band names are abbreviated due to space limitations.  

Anyhoo, early favorites in the above bracket are probably Frank Ocean, the Walkmen, the Dirty Projectors, and the Divine Fits (the new band led by Britt Daniel, the singer of Spoon).  Whichever team is the last band standing in that division will match up against the winner of Division 2 (below).

I would guess that Division 2 contains three or four of the best albums in the competition--the Grizzly Bear album, which has gotten rave reviews, as well as the albums by Hot Chip, Matthew Dear, John Maus, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, and Fiona Apple.  Other consistently solid bands include Animal Collective, Four Tet, David Byrne (with St. Vincent), and Beach House.  Division 2 seems stacked.

However, I fully expect to have an album or two surprise me this time around as well.

32 bands leads to 31 matches.  16 + 8 + 4 + 2 + 1.  I think I got that right.  And because I'll probably average about one matchup per day, I'll finish right around Halloween.

Completing this competition will be one of my goals for October.  I enjoy it.  Along the way, hopefully I'll discover a couple new albums for my rotation.  Worked wonders last time around.  Despite being an October goal, I think that I will start the competition early.

It is now Thursday afternoon.  In the Middle East, Thursday afternoon means one thing and one thing only to a university teacher: weekend!  (Out here, Friday is a holy day.)  Time for beer and music.

Band Wars 2: The Revenge

Well, it has been four months or so since Band Wars, a deathmatch style game (in my mind) in which bands pitted their new releases against the new releases of other, hopefully inferior, bands until one survivor remained.  Since Band Wars ended, I've been downloading (illegally) an immense amount of music.  The most promising contenders that have released an album recently seem to be:

Beach House, Bloom

Motion Sickness of Time Travel, Motion Sickness of Time Travel

Mount Eerie, Clear Moon

The Walkmen, Heaven

Japandroids, Celebration Rock

Sun Kil Moon, Among the Leaves

Hot Chip, In Our Heads

Fiona Apple, The Idler Wheel . . . 

DIIV, Oshin

Twin Shadow, Confess

Dirty Projectors, Swing Lo Magellan

Frank Ocean, Channel Orange

John Maus, A Collection of Rarities

Passion Pit, Gossamer

TNGHT, TNGHT EP

The Antlers, Undersea

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Mature Themes

Divine Fits, A Thing Called Divine Fits

Matthew Dear, Beams

Four Tet, Pink

Wild Nothing, Nocturne

Dan Deacon, America

Animal Collective, Centipede Hz

Bob Mould, Silver Age

Mount Eerie, Ocean Roar

The xx, Coexist

David Byrne and St. Vincent, Love This Giant

Grizzly Bear, Shields

The Sea and Cake, Runner



That's 29 albums.  A couple of issues.  First, Mount Eerie released two albums over that period.  Ought there to be a rule against both albums competing?  I think not.  It could lead to matchup of Mount Eerie against Mount Eerie, which would seem funny, like forcing someone to punch himself.

Second, a single-elimination bracket works best with 16 albums or 32 albums.  29 won't work.  So over the next couple of days, I'll have a couple of decisions to make.  The first Band Wars involved 16 albums.  Should I go for 32 this time around?  And the other big question: Do I even want to bother doing it this time around?

While I think about it, I'll inevitably get to 32 albums by checking the new releases over the coming week.

* * *

I achieved all of my goals yesterday, except for the ants.  I was determined to kill 100 ants.  It's really hot here, ants hate the heat, they'll keep trying to come into my place despite the fact that I have made my apartment a death machine for them.  When I swept and mopped, however, the ants skedaddled.

I finally started writing something.  It is a sluggish process, and it was hard to get started, but once the hour was finished I found that I wanted to go back and continue what I had started.

Back in college, I used to wake up, turn on my computer, and play chess until my head felt hazy from lack of food.  Then I would eat and play chess until, once again, my head felt hazy.  Occasionally, I would do the same thing with short stories I was writing.  It's good to have OCD when I'm doing something productive.  Not so healthy to be OCD when there's beer around, and there's always beer around.

Band Wars--Conclusion

[If you haven't seen the earlier matchup (that I posted about an hour ago), go here first.]

There are three matchups today: two semifinals and the finals.  In the first,

Youth Lagoon, Year of Hibernation

will upset Spiritualized, Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Why Youth Lagoon?  The short answer is that it is growing on me.  And the music seems to change with every listen.  This time through, Year of Hibernation had an overwhelming fairy-tale sound, as if it were the soundtrack to a sad children's story.  This description sure doesn't sound like much of an endorsement, but it is . . . for me.  Many of the sounds from his synthesizer--whistles, repeated three-note charms, high-pitched catchy earworms--sound childish in the best possible description of childish: simple and sad but uplifting at the same time.  One listen of "Afternoon," and I hope you'll see what I mean:

* * * 

In the other semifinal, we pit Chromatics, Kill for Love

against M83, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

I choose the winning album in this case because the losing album, despite its quality and variety, doesn't strike an emotional chord with me.  I listen to it.  I think, Really good music!  But I don't feel much aside from that.  The winning album, just as good an album as the loser, has the added quality of being to tap into my mood.  So, M83 advances.

And the final matchup between M83 and Youth Lagoon isn't even close.  M83 wins.  Youth Lagoon is a surprisingly great album (and not the sort of music that I normally listen to).  M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming is their best album--and considering their tremendous output, that's saying something.

I suspected M83 would win.  But I also suspected that Atlas Sound or Girls would win as well.  Neither of those made it out of the first round.

Well, here's the final update.  I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.  Of these bands, I'm going to add M83, John Talabot, Youth Lagoon, Chromatics, Lotus Plaza and Atlas Sound to my regular rotation.  A pretty good variety of excellent new music.

Next up for me, I guess, will be going to pitchfork, allmusic, and metacritic to find 16 new albums for Band Wars 2.

Band Wars--Quarters--John Talabot vs. Spiritualized

John Talabot, fin

vs. Spiritualized, Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Mellow house music versus space rock.  Both very good albums.  But one of these ends up being more creative, more diverse, and generally more interesting.  I'll end up playing both often, at least until I get tired of them.

When do you get tired of albums, by the way?  How many CDs do you have on your hard drive that never get played anymore?

John Talabot's "So Will Be Now"

Spiritualized's "Little Girl"

In the end, I think I'll play John Talabot more than I'll play Spiritualized, despite Spiritualized being the better album.  So in a roundabout way, I'm choosing Spiritualized.

And here we have it: the Final Four.  If I were an oddsmaker, I'd guess the long shot to be Youth Lagoon, which I never imagined would make it this far.  The other three CDs seem equally likely to win, with perhaps a slight edge to M83.

In my next post, I'll finish the semifinals and the finals all at once.  Time to finish this game!  The post should be up by tomorrow at the latest.

Ranking the losers from #5 to #16:

5.  John Talabot
6.  Lotus Plaza
7.  The Men
8.  Girls
9.  Atlas Sound
10.  Real Estate
11. St. Vincent
12. Cloud Nothings
13. Grimes
14. Perfume Genius
15. Julia Holter
16. Frankie Rose

So Julia Holter ending up advancing to the quarterfinals by being pitted against the only band in the competition that she was better than.

Comparing Phil Galfond's Rise with Mine; Band Wars

Phil Galfond wrote a post recently describing how he got into poker.  It's a long read, but it's worth it.  He starts with freshman year of college and goes through the steps that led him to dropping out and focusing full-time on online poker.  He deposited $50 and ran it up to millions.  I deposited $50, played 25NL limit until I lost it, then redeposited $50 and dropped down to one-cent/two-cent unlimited hold them, which I 24-tabled for years at a win rate of a beer an hour.  In short, I drank myself even.

In a way, though, I think Galfond's post is the kind that will encourage a few dozen 19-year-old schmucks to slack off at school and blow their wad at the nearest poker table.  You can't control stupid.

Which leads to another piece of news.  Twoplustwo is back up and running.  Just another site to waste 15 minutes on daily.

* * *

After a week-long hiatus, I've resumed downloading music again.  Last night, I downloaded these albums:

Fever Ray, Fever Ray

as well as everything that I believe that Boards of Canada has ever put out:

Twoism
Aquarius
Peel Sessions
Geogaddi
Trans Canada Highway
Hi Scores
Music Has the Right to Children
In a Beautiful Place out in the Country
The Campfire Headphase


If you've never heard of Boards of Canada, I recommend them highly.  I would start with Music Has the Right to Children, a truly incredible album--an energizing, uplifting album of electronic and ambient music.

In any case, I look forward to going through Boards of Canada's catalog over the next two weeks.

* * *

Three weeks ago, I found a file to download that contained a full 17 (!!!) of John Coltrane's albums.  Now I knew a little about Coltrane--mostly from the A Love Supreme and Blue Train albums--but holy christ, his last albums are mindblowing freakouts.  If you ever want to hear him at his wildest, try Interstellar Space.


* * * 

In the next Band Wars matchup, we pit polar opposites against each other.

The introspective, electronic, vulnerable, melodic Youth Lagoon, Year of Hibernation

against aggressive, rocking, ecstatic sounds of the Men, Open Your Heart

Youth Lagoon has a sweet, yearning sound, with vocals masked by distortion that makes him sound like an echo.  Despite its melody, it feels sparse.  You imagine a lone musician recording one instrument at a time and mixing them all together.  So in every way, production, lyrics, and overall feel, it is a lonely album.  I don't mean that it is a sad album in every way.  There are uplifting moments, where the light gets through the curtains, such as in "Daydream."

"Daydream"

The Men's Open Your Heart is full of guitar jams.  It also started to annoy me.  Despite an impressive first listen, this album is not going to be one that I play very often.  Therefore:

Band Wars--Quarters--M83 vs. Lotus Plaza

M83, Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

Lotus Plaza, Spooky Action from a Distance

M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming starts off with three hooky tracks and soaring vocals.  An ambient song four leads right into "Wait," a moment that seems to announce the variety of the album.  From there, we bounce back and forth from ambient track to another hooky track with soaring vocals and catchy synths.  The sound is anthemic.  You feel like you're listening to something important--but then you are undermined by the story-telling of a child (track 6).  It's hard for me to find a weak spot, so I gave up and enjoyed myself.  This is a good album for almost any moment--except for parties.  Most of it is too mellow and atmospheric for a party.

Here's "Intro"

Spooky Action at a Distance is also a fantastic album.  You feel yourself carried by the echo-y vocals and tremendous guitar loops.  You wonder whether he's worried about his voice the way he buries it in the music, but it doesn't matter.  It works.  Here's "Out of Touch"

"Monolith" is a good song too.

M83 is just better.  I write this despite feeling that I'll end up playing Spooky Action at a Distance more than Hurry Up, You're Dreaming.  It's close.  The Lotus Plaza album is closer to my "default" music, the type of stuff I play all of the time.  Despite that, I can't shoot down M83.  But you should really check out both albums.  The last of the albums by Deerhunter alumni is finished.  Bummer.

Edit: Five minutes after this decision, I regret my choice.  Too late now.

Band Wars--Quarterfinals

Julia Holter, Ekstasis

Chromatics, Kill for Love

This one is going to be quick and easy.  Julia Holter sounds like Kate Bush, which I consider a plus (although I understand if you feel it's a minus).  For my second listen, Ekstasis mostly sounded like background music.  After I finished, I felt like I wanted to put it away for a while.

Then I started Kill for Love and started to enjoy myself.  This album sounds better on second listen than the first, and I really liked them the first time through.

The result of this round was no surprise.

Band Wars--Finishing Round One

We'll find the winner of the last two matchups in this post.

Grimes Visions

versus John Talabot's fin

Both of these albums use house or dance music in different ways.  Grimes goes for a strange mix of sinister tones and a girly voice singing in falsetto.  Very sugary.  Sometimes it's hard to tell whether she's imitating or mocking bubblegum dancepop.  Despite that, I'm not sure that I dislike the album.  Maybe it's a "grower."

Here's "Oblivion" by Grimes:

John Talabot's album sticks closer to what I imagine "house" to be.  It's a solid if not incredibly original album.  This is the kind of music for late-night playing when I'll want to add some variety to my mellow music.  Here's the most attention-getting track, "Destiny."

Well, John Talabot wins this one, and it isn't remotely close.  Hopefully, Grimes grows on me.

* * *

In the last first-round matchup, we have

Cloud Nothings, Attack on Memory

versus Spiritualized, Sweet Heart Sweet Light

In an article or two about Cloud Nothings, reviewers say that this album is a huge departure from their earlier stuff.  I have no clue.  This album is my introduction to the band.  And Attack on Memory is a straight-up rocker.  I couldn't hear any other instruments besides guitar and drums.  Sounds like these guys met in a garage and started rocking and someone recorded the session.  If I didn't know better, I'd guess that this album came out in the heyday of Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

This is their opening track, "No Future/No Past":

Spiritualized, you might remember, is the band that had that indie track that was famous for starting off, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are floating through space."  And "space rock" is the best musical category that I've seen applied to this band.  No matter how any of the songs start, you come to expect the sound to break up and go somewhere totally unexpected.  He's strumming an acoustic guitar one second, and you feel firmly on the ground.  Then suddenly the guitars stutter, and keyboards launch the song into a psychedelic meadow with gigantic neon flowers.  The word on the album cover, after all, is Huh?


Here's "Hey Jane," as performed on David Letterman:

Well, I try to be open-minded about the music I listen to . . . up to a point.  What I'm saying is, if you ever spot me listening to Garth Brooks, please club me to death on the spot.  I'm trying to be all-inclusive--or as inclusive as I can be.  But compared with Cloud Nothings, Spiritualized's music is far closer to the kind of music that I've loved for decades.  So Spiritualized advances to the next round.  This is an album that I look forward to hearing again.

Well, round one is all done.  Here are the results:

Reflecting on this game, I was worried that I would quickly become bored with it--either because I figured the game itself was lame, or because I would keep selecting the album that I already suspected would win.  I don't have either of these worries anymore.  Of these first eight matchups, I tried to guess the winners before listening, and I was right only five times.  That means three surprises: Julia Holter, Youth Lagoon, and the Men.

Also, finishing round one means that I am already past the halfway point.  Eight matchups down; seven to go (four quarterfinals, two semis, and the finals).  At one per day or so, I'm guessing I'll have a winner right around next Sunday.  I hope you're enjoying this.  I am!