1. Fennesz + Sakamoto: Flumina
Christian Fennesz's Black Sea has been my go-to disk for dark, complex drone music for a while now, and I've stuck with Ryuichi Sakamoto through all his many self-reimaginings since Futurista. So when I heard that Sakamoto had recorded a short solo piano piece at the start of concert dates last year and passed 24 of them to Fennesz to work his magic, I was pretty stoked already. I wasn't disappointed. Okay, so I am gaga over this thing. For an album from such different artists, composed across great distance, it really works. I think with this haunting, beautiful collaboration, Fennesz has balanced the contributions perfectly across a hushed, heavenly two hours.
Track To Try: "330" -- In fact, someone's made a lovely little video for it right here.
2. Sweet Mother Logic: Natural History
Somebody has to say it. This is prog rock. And what sweet, joyous, superbly executed prog rock it is. Should I mention it's accomplished with an amorphous selection of instrumentation, including vintage synths, great drumming, and strings (among many, many other things)? I've been waiting three years since this group of Montrealers released their eponymous first album just to see what they'd do next. This time out, they've put together an eclectic collection of tunes that more than anything else, show how spectacular these arrangements are. Somebody's thinking hard about how all these diverse instruments fit together -- especially given the progginess of the songs. The mix of the synths with the strings and some fine percussion turn pretty melodies and harmonies into something special. No words, just right.
Track To Try: "Lord Tennyson" -- If you don't hear a bit of Beulah in this, you're not listening. If you can sit still, you're dead. I'm sorry.
3. Hazmat Modine: Cicada
It's New Orleans. No, it's New York. Oh hell, now it's Soweto. This outfit indiscriminately draws from all manner of world traditions to forge a unique global sound. Big brass (tuba, baritone sax, trombone, horn line) with Tom Waits/Leon Redbone-tinged vocals that move from Dixieland-styled jazz to hard blues and elsewhere without warning. The cut In Two Years would be at home on any number of ECM releases, with its subtle rhythm underpinning a lonely, exquisitely recorded solo trumpet, fading into a field recording of fireworks. Elsewhere, it's guitars, banjos, and fiddles to the fore and Bon Iveresque vocals. Never gets boring.
Track To Try: Difficult, given the broad range of material here. 1) "Dead Crow" (feat. Kronos Quartet) -- Guitar, banjo, quirky rhythm, and strings. 2) "Walking Stick" -- Waits-like tango with some fine brass work.
4. Leatherface: Live in Melbourne - Viva La Arthouse
Best driving to work album ever. One of my very favorite bands playing the now-closed Arthouse in Melbourne, doing every song I would like to hear them do live. By the time they power into Diego Garcia, I'm usually bellowing along and it feels like somebody strapped a rocket onto the Mini and I don't even SEE the traffic. Best Frankie Stubbs comment: "If I keep pulling me trousers up it's because Australian Customs thought I was carrying a load of smack in me belt, and I've lost weight on this kangaroo meat."
Track To Try: "I Want the Moon" -- A big, sweaty brick wall version of one of their top songs. Also, their canny encore cover of Nine Inch Nails' (via Johnny Cash) "Hurt" (the band is known for their interesting selection of covers -- You Are My Sunshine anyone?).
5. Ikebe Shakedown: Ikebe Shakedown
A little camp, a lot of originality, and tons of musicianship, these guys manage to split the difference perfectly between Capetown jazz and '70s porn soundtracks. Seriously, when I hear this stuff, I imagine Chest Rockwell jumping from rooftop to rooftop or gettin' down with da ladies. With that big, honking bari sax in the middle of the mix, this music makes either the vertical expression of a horizontal idea, or vice versa, equally viable options.
Track To Try: "Don't Contradict" -- A bongo/wahwah-paloosa™ with tight horn riffs and a trumpet solo that's all Hugh Masekela.
6. Vijay Iyer with Prasanna & Nitin Mitta: Tirtha
I think it's safe to say Iyer is the only musician on this list with a Ph.D. from Cal Berkeley. He's on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. And man, can this guy play. The addition of the tabla (Iyer is of Indian Tamil descent) and the guitar allow for a completely different feel. There's so much concentration on rhythm here, at times this stuff sounds minimalist. It's great music to get lost in.
Track To Try: "Falsehood" -- Probably the least "out there" piece on the album, but you still get the feel for what they're doing here. Plus, it's very pretty.
7. The Mountain Goats: All Eternals Deck
If John Darnielle wasn't penning hyperliterate lyrics and fronting this band, he'd be right at home in the Big Bang Theory cast. I'll be honest -- I've loved this band for a long, long time, so I'm probably terribly biased, but this album delivers the kind of breadth I expect from Darnielle, both stylistically and in his selection of material. You have stark, you have big stringy sounds, you have bouncy almost-rockers, and a real rocker about the dissolution of a marriage. In a lot of ways, these are terse little short stories set to music. I just love where this album takes my brain.
Track To Try: "Birth of Serpents" -- It's photography, it's herpetology, it's… it's brilliant.
8. A Winged Victory for the Sullen: A Winged Victory for the Sullen
Reminds me a bit of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra mixed with Arvo Pärt and Brian Eno. From the opening whisper of "We Played Some Open Chords" to the solo piano benediction at the end of "All Farewells Are Sudden," A Winged Victory for the Sullen takes you across some marvelously wintry landscapes. In fact, it surprises me that this group isn't Scandinavian (they're actually Americans composer Dustin J. O'Halloran and Adam Wiltzie of Stars of the Lid accompanied by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble), because at times they really work that Ólafur Arnalds feeling pretty hard. The perfect album for a snowy evening.
Track To Try: "Steep Hills of Vicodin Tears" -- Builds like the light on a deep winter morning, illuminating, but only so much.
9. Fantastic Voyage Records: Jazz Noire (Compilation)
Just imagine yourself in black and white. The fog rolls in and a lonely saxophone wails. Ordinarily, I'm not big on compilations, but this one looked promising, and it surely delivers. The depth this collection shows is pretty remarkable, and really captures the feeling of Film Noire. Plus, everything has cleaned up very well. It's an easy one-album way of getting your fix of Ella, Etta, Sarah, Mingus, and more. Track To Try: "What Ev'ry Woman Knows" Etta Jones With Luther Henderson & His Orchestra -- Sultry vocals, lonely sax perfection, and a knowing lyric.
10. Jackie Oates: Saturnine
This one came on the recommendation of the good folks at "The Word." Oates has a marvelously sweet voice that fits the (mostly) traditional British folk songs here. The arrangements are just-right sparse, and fit her voice very well. I expect great things from Oates in the future.
Track To Try: "The Trees They Are So High" -- A tragic ballad of an arranged marriage with a section of spoken Welsh in the middle. Kind of sums up the whole thing.
Honorable mentions: Frank Turner, England Keep My Bones; Brian Eno, Drums Between The Bells; Antonymes, Like Rumours Of Hushed Thunder; Sinikka Langeland, The Land That Is Not
-Allison spins Fridays from 5-7
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