Whew, it’s been a long time hasn’t it, friends? I bet you thought we’d let the lists fall by the wayside. Alas, that’s not the case, we just got really distracted and never got this post finished. Hopefully we can finish up all the lists by the end of the month. It would just be silly to be releasing lists about 2010 in March.
In case it was so long ago that you forgot, this is part two of our list of albums that got us really excited about the future of bands who should have long careers left in front of them.
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B: I remember the first time Scott and I heard Phantogram. We were sitting at one of our favorite cafes in the old neighborhood, (doesn’t the phrase, “the old neighborhood” sound awesome?), Citizen, and one of the baristas/waitresses put on Phantogram. We had no idea who it was at the time, but I remember Scott commenting on the trancy/hip hop sounding beat that opens “When I’m Small” (ironically, enough). Then, the music kicked in over the beat, and we were smitten. The female vocals, the guitar, the keyboards, the harmonies, they are married together so well by this duo. More recently, I’ve heard some negative things about their live show, but you know what? Fuck it, I don’t see how Phantogram’s live show would be lacking in any way. They make fun, awesome music!
S: As Brian says, this band is just one of the lasting gifts Citizen gave us. If you live in the Seattle area, you need to try out their crepes. Savory and sweet alike, they’re delicious! Anyway, in agreement with Brian’s story, by the time the third song started playing I realized I just had to know who this band was. I had no idea who they might be, but I knew I was falling in love with them. Brian headed downstairs and inquired about who was playing, and Phantogram entered my lexicon forevermore.
According to wikipedia, fellow Upstate New York musician, Matthew Loiacano, (New York State represent!!) called their genre “street beat, psych pop.” Yup, that’s perfect, let’s go with that. This music is perfect for so many occasions: watching it rain, reading, sitting at your laptop in a coffeeshop, doing the robot, looking at sexy pictures of the Mara sisters. Yet, whatever activity you might engage in while listening to Phantogram, that activity will be accompanied by a healthy dose of head nodding.
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S: Wow, we sure did pick a ton of electronic music this year. I guess it was just a good year for the genre.
I’d never listened to Caribou before this year, even though Daniel Victor Snaith has been around for a long time, first as Manitoba, then as Caribou. [via@wikipedia]
Between Seattle coffeehouses and emusic’s constant ravings, it was impossible to escape this album. That’s a fact for which I am enormously grateful. Unlike the other electronic acts we’ve mentioned so far, Caribou is more traditional. He’s more what you would expect when you hear the genre mentioned. He also represents the absolute best of what the genre can offer. According to last.fm, “he incorporates electronic psychedelia, krautrock rhythms, and breakbeat drums and creates a swirling, lush, musical panorama” Yep, I don’t really have anything to add to that.
B: “Lush” and “swirling” were the exact adjectives that first came to mind when I heard Caribou. Actually, I don’t know that I can sum up their sound better than last.fm. “Musical panorama” conjures up such rich imagery. The album art, even, gives you a sense of what you’re in store for with Swim. It’s like a carnival funhouse at times, with its distorted synths, and rotating speaker effects. Listening to the album is like spinning, but alternating fast and slow. And it won’t make you dizzy, but will make you want to get up and move. I suppose now would be a good time to look into Daniel Victor Snaith’s older stuff, and then buy everything new he comes out with from now on.
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8. Deerhunter – Halcyon Digest
B: First off, one of the best songs of the year is “Helicopter”.
If I can attempt to describe Deerhunter’s sound on this album: It’s like lo-fi bedroom pop with noise pop elements. Subdued and nuanced. Bradford Cox makes an album that feels like it was recorded in a bedroom, with manufactured reverb and quiet vocals, but sounds like a record full of space. I am reminded a bit of the Magnetic Fields at times, and the Pixies other times. I know I just did this, but I hate comparing because I feel it takes away from the originality of the music. The music is good. It sometimes sounds like other good music. Deerhunter is good. Buy this album.
S: You know those movies about best friends who fall in love? The one where there is never a love at first sight moment, but instead two people who fit together and everyone can see how perfect they are but the two of them, until one day, for some reason or another, they realize they could never consider living another moment apart… that’s how I feel about this album.
There was never a moment when I was listening to it and lightning struck and thought, “Who the hell are these guys?!?” Instead, it was a slow-burning movement that grew without me realizing it, until now I want this album on my playlist, I need this album on my playlist.
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9. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
B: I feel like it’s inevitable. I can hear them now, “Mumford & Sons are the British Avett Brothers.”
Sure, there are similarities in instrumentation and vocal harmonies, but Mumford & Sons aren’t some band ripping off another band’s sound (they aren’t!). They are fucking legit. Serious musical chops. And amazing literary lyrics. A long, bright future lies before them!
S: These guys are wonderful. I couldn’t really believe how much I loved this album on the very first listen, and more all the time with each listen afterward.
I think we may have dodged the bullet Brian was talking about, with them being compared to other bands, because at this point that probably would have happened already.
However, sadly, there is still the Christian bullet to dodge. Most bands can’t get away with being Christians while maintaining indie cred. Sure, it happens, like with Sufjan, but it’s rare.
You can always get away with using biblical metaphors for story-telling, like Sam Beam, Leonard Cohen, Josh Ritter and M. Ward. The problem comes when people start to realize you might actually believe the things you’re saying beyond pure metaphor.
Forget the fact that everyone creates art from a certain vantage point, that everybody hold a worldview full of bias and presuppositions. Our culture isn’t big on nuance, even hipster culture. So, understanding the difference between evangelicalism and faith isn’t always at the forefront of people’s minds.
Mumford and Sons do have some sort of faith, the specifics of which I am ignorant of, and I don’t care enough to look deeper into it. Their music can easily be heard from a universal level, with songs about life that jive with a person of faith, like myself, an agnositic, or an atheist stuck alongside me in the human condition.
To be honest, the lyrics that have gotten the most flack only indicate the ignorance of the harsher critics. The lyrics in question are quoting folks like Steinbeck and Shakespeare (the title of the album, for instance, is Shakespeare). The first line on the album is / serve God / love me / and mend /, but they aren’t quoting Billy Graham or Pat Robertson here, that’s Shakespeare dumb-asses.
“Serve God, love me and mend. There will I leave you too, for here comes one in haste.” -Much Ado About Nothing
Stop assuming all people of faith are as illiterate as Sarah Palin and… well… read a book.
I know, that’s the second time in the last few weeks that I’ve bitched about that, I promise it’s the last time for a while. I just get really tired of ignorance and fundamentalism, especially when it’s parading around as “reason.”
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10. Janelle Monáe – The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)
S: The fusion of R&B, Hip Hop, Pop, etc. is bound to continue. It’s not going anywhere. Fortunately, if it looks anything like Janelle Monáe, we’re all in good hands.
While on one side of the spectrum you have absurd, semi-coherent ramblings and garbage music of Will.I.Am and The Black Eyed Peas, you still have the other side of the spectrum, and Janelle Monáe is that side of the spectrum’s rightful queen. My friends, Long Live the Queen!!
Sure, the concept album is nothing new. Nor is the album as rock opera. Yet, Monae upped the ante, with a three suite Hip Hopera that refuses to bow to cliche, genre, stereotype or whatever other limits you might have in mind. For this ambitious and well-achieved story, Metropolis, she draws from lots of various influences, although most clearly from the 1927 silent film of the same name.
There are all sorts of messianic themes, lots of sci-fi (obviously),and loads of musical talent. All this in the service of her greater message, which appears to be speaking out against prejudice and marginalization of ‘the Other.’ Oh yeah, and dancing, lots and lots of dancing.
Monáe really is a singular talent, and I really hope it isn’t long before she blesses the world with another record.
Embedding is disabled on the video below, but you would do well to watch it at YouTube.
B: Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. She is quite the woman. You’d be hard pressed to find a person of equal talent and ambition in the music industry today … especially one who seemingly flies under the radar. Sure, she’s received some commercial success here and there, but it is in no way in proportion to the quality of what she’s released. Just look at some of the artists Scott mentioned above … Will.i.am? C’mon, if awards and recognition were based solely on talent and quality of product, this chucker would be on the streets somewhere, and Ms. Monae would have to have a house dedicated solely to the housing of awards. And she’d be living the high life, and performing at the Super Bowl halftime show (how awesome would that be for the world?!) Listen to her music! It is brilliant.
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11. Childish Gambino
S: I’ve written about Donald Glover before, and I can assure you I’ll write about him again. He’s a wildly talented young artist best known as Troy on Community.
It honestly doesn’t make sense that he’d be as talented an emcee as he is.
He’s not a joke emcee, but his rhymes are still hilarious because his turns of phrase are so cleverly turned. It proves to me that I don’t need Hip Hop to be conscious, I just need it to be smart.
I wonder if perhaps through the various creative outlets he utilizes, Glover is baring different parts of himself to the world. If so, Hip Hop is his venue for articulating his love of vice; mostly the classics, like sex and alcohol. Whatever the case, this is not a novelty project that I listen to from time to time out of mere amusement. This is as good as the rest of the Hip Hop I listen to, and better than the garbage most often on the radio.
B: Donald Glover is the man. On what other hip hop album do you get sincere props dropped to Tina Fey?
Maybe you know him from his writing days on “30 Rock”, maybe you know him from his comedy troupe, “Derrick Comedy”, or maybe you know him for what most people do, Troy from “Community”. However you know him, be prepared to know him differently. Be prepared to know him as Childish Gambino.
Childish Gambino first came onto the radar of RtM when he released two different mix tapes earlier in 2010. He rapped over indie songs. And it was good. Really good. Surprisingly good. You can download them for free here and here.
You wonder where he finds the time and the talent to do all that he does. Between his writing, his standup act, his role on Community, he not only writes all the lyrics for his tracks, but he makes the beats and produces too. He is a phenom. Like Scotty said, it doesn’t make sense how good he is at everything he does. Let’s hope he doesn’t burn out from doing too much. Can’t wait for the next mixtape to drop!
It’s impossible to pick a Childish Gambino song to include, fortunately, you can download it all for free so that makes it easy to listen for yourself. Here he is rapping over a Grizzly Bear song.
Also, here he is showing he can make music that isn’t Hip Hop, that is still great.
