The half-year in music (with videos!)

(Ahem. As you can see there are few actual videos, it's mostly only youtube songs with static images)

Best Albums

Surfer Blood "Astro Coast" A-


Titus Andronicus "The Monitor" A-

Beach House "Teen Dream" A-

LCD Soundsystem "This is Happening" B

Black Keys "Brothers" B+

Spoon "Transference" B

 

Good
The Hold Steady "Heaven is Whenever" B-

Tame Impala "Innerspeaker" B+
Yeasayer "Ambling Alp" (the first half, at least) B-

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings "I Learned the Hard Way" B-
Sleigh Bells "Treats" B
Jaill -"This is How We Burn" B
Male Bonding "Nothing Hurts" B
Dr. Dog "Shame Shame" B-

Meh

She & Him "Vol. 2" C-
Everything M. Ward does deserves a listen. At a certain point, though, even if I recognize something as quality work (mostly the production and instrumentation) doesn't mean I have to like it, or force myself to listen to it on the reg. I just don't see the point of She & Him. Zooey doesn't write quite good enough songs, they are pleasant enough, but I'd rather just go dig up some old records.


The Morning Benders "Big Echo" B-

The Brooklyn via San Fran group led off its second album with perhaps the song of the year, "Excuses," a glorious amalgamation of glee-club harmonies, bluesy strings and soaring melodies, but then let Chris Taylor's (Grizzly Bear) production drag the following nine tracks through the tasteful, reverbed sludge that makes Taylor's outfit so damn boring. Only the occasionally fuzzed-out guitar struts through the languid, hung-over drapery, heard on the second track on the top-loaded record.

Foals - Total Life Forever C

Overrated

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti "Before Today"

Robyn "Body Talk Pt. 1"

Robyn is terrible and I'm tired of all these hipsters saying otherwise.

Janelle Monae "The ArchAndroid"

Disappointments

Vampire Weekend "Contra" C
I think yr a contra. NO! yr a contra ...

Wolf Parade "Expo 86" C
Broken Bells "Broken Bells" C-

Haven't had time for more than one listen

Gorillaz "Plastic Beach"
Dum Dum Girls "I Will Be"
Broken Social Scene "Forgiveness Rock Record"
Harlem "Hippies"
The National "High Violet"

Did not hear

New Pornographers "Together"
Band of Horses "Infinite Arms"
MGMT "Congratulations"
Joanna Newsom "Have One on Me"
... and thousands more

Shitlist:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/music/ref=pd_ts_nav

Record sales/ The Grammys

Two of the top ten selling albums last week are on independent labels. I don't have any stats, but I would assume that is a pretty rare occurrence. Spoon's "Transference" debuted at No. 4 this week, and Vampire Weekend's "Contra" dropped a few spots from its No. 1 debut last week (only the 13th indie ever to go No. 1 since the advent of Soundscan) to No. 6.

Is this another sign of the "mainstreaming of indie," or more representative of how far major label record sales have fallen in the past decade, allowing the little guys to catch up? I'm leaning towards the latter — major label record sales can't hold a candle what they were just 10 years ago.

The top selling album of '09, Taylor Swift's “Fearless,” has sold 2.4 million copies, less than half of what a hit album sold in 2000. That reflects the larger trend in record sales, which have declined 45 percent since 2000, according to the NY Times.

But, music fans of the indie persuasion are still buying music, because, this is gonna sound arrogant, they appreciate and value the craftsmanship and artistry more than the mainstream zombies downloading the majority of their tunes, and buying the god-forsaken Susan Boyle album in droves.

As I'm writing this, E! is spraying inane chatter all over the red carpet pre-Grammy Awards. (What are the Grammys?)

Should an album-buying, music-obsessing record nerd like myself be the prime target of a music awards show (glorified recording-industry commercial, back-patting contest)? If the teens and mainstream listening public are buying enough fewer albums that indie labels are creeping into the top ten with rising frequency, why pander to the fading purchasing power of the pop demographic? The awards are, of course, not awarded for the quality of the actual music but for the size of the celebrity receiving each award (the abominable yet ubiquitous Black Eyed Peas received several nominations). Then again, fans of Spoon and the indie/alternative canon (supposedly) don't really care about gold-painted statues with a history void of any credibility, and the awards show would fade into even further obscurity if it deviates from its current path of comedic irrelevancy.

Basically, the Grammys are fucked. The music it trumpets no longer sells like it used to, and the underground music that has always had the most artistic integrity is slowly eating up more of the sales pie and would shun the awards if it halfheartedly and (now) belatedly tried to embrace it.

Note: The upcoming cover story for Paste Magazine is an essay entitled "Indie is Dead." I haven't read it yet, and don't know what the argument is going to be, but my interest is piqued.

New Spoon

You can listen to the first single, "Written in Reverse," from Spoon's forthcoming album "Transference" here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120830261

The All Songs Considered guy has rave reviews for the album, which NPR received an advance copy of, saying it might be the band's "best yet." If this song is any indication of the record's quality as a whole, consider me a little more than excited.

Record nerds can also voice their opinion for the top album of 2009 in NPR's poll at npr.org/allsongs


"Transference" is out January, 19 on Merge.

Hear a new Spoon track

Spoon's new album "Transference" is due out January 26 on Merge Records.

Here's a streaming track from the record:

http://hypem.com/track/948331/Spoon+-+Mystery+Zone

UPDATE: This link is now broken, but if you go to hypem.com and fart around a bit you can prolly still find it.

And it sounds as good as anything on Spoon's five perfect albums: sparse rhythms, jagged guitars — but now with some sweeping synths and added reverb.