Imperium Dekadenz - Procella Vadens

Season of Mist

Released: January 26th, 2010

Metal rules. Especially black metal. I like this album. Its got a great, grim, cold, BM sound like Xasthur mixed with more folkier, classical pieces.

Imperium Dekadenz do have a really dumb sounding name though, but I will give them a pass cause they are German and hail from the BLACK f-in FOREST! So awesome. They have a lot in common with Wolves In The Throne Room. Both bands play atmospheric black metal and sing about forests and spirits and a bunch of other grim/cold crap. Both bands live in the woods: one is wet and has owls which are not what the seem (The Cascades) the other is um.... black and grim. It's a relief to hear an BM band not sing about the usual satan/god sucks/burn a church crap. That was so 1994. Today BM is all about the grim woods.

The non-metal parts of Procella Vadens give the album enough variety to keep is interesting to listen to all the way through. Sometimes I feel like black metal gets a little repetitive without other elements. Including the intro and outro tracks there are a total of 5 non-black metal pieces. These range from grim sounding piano interludes to folky acoustic guitar pieces. My only complaint with these pieces is that they are distinctly separated from the metal songs. I would of liked to hear more of a blend between the different musical styles, like Phil Elvrum did on last years amazing Mount Eerie album Wind's Poem also about the grim woods.

The highlight of the album are the songs "A Million Moons" and "An Autumn Serrenade" which are also the longest and are wicked grim. Oh and the album art is amazing. A lone figure standing on a grim waterfall. Wicked.

RIYL: Wolves in the Throne Room, Xasthur, old-Enslaved

Rating: 8.5

The Magnetic Fields - Realism

Nonesuch Records

Released January 26th, 2010

Realism is the The Magnetic Fields' 9th album, and there is one thing that keeps each new release exciting: the ever-changing sound of each album. The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merrit constantly experiments with new genres, sounds, instruments and themes in his work over the 18 years of the bands existence. Previous albums focused on synth-pop, folk, country, cabaret, noise, and strange blends of each (synth-pop-country). Realism takes the exact opposite route as 2008's Distortion, which relied on distorted noise-pop (a la The Jesus and Mary Chain), and instead uses only stripped down stringed and keyed instruments without any pedals or other digital manipulation.

What's also impressive about the musicianship of this album is the complete lack of any drums (though tambourines are used on the most up-beat, fun song on the album "The Dada Polka"). Instead rhythm is established through the amazing number of layers of instruments. On one of the best songs on the album, "Walk A Lonely Road," there seems to be about 20 different aural layers washing out and over you.

The best moments of this album recall the 69 Love Songs opus and 2004's I, particularly the opening track "You Must Be Out of Your Mind" which is another highlight. Though one complaint with Realism that I have is that about half of the songs are good and the other half are quite forgettable. Sorry Stephin, but I'm just not that into a song about a doll's tea party played on a ukulele. And, much like Distortion, Realism lacks any songs that grab you in that fun, catchy pop-way that earlier MF albums had. But Distortion did end up growing on me more and more as the year went on and ended up as one of my favourites of '08. I suspect this album will do the same.

RIYL: Leonard Cohen, Beirut, The Antlers

Rating: 6.5

Real Estate - Reality

Mexican Summer Records

Released January 18th 2010

I LOVE BIG REVERB!!! Love it. Love it. Love it.

Just as they say the easiest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, the easiest way to my ears is by turning up that guitar reverb in a song. Everything from early 60's surf rock, to the psychedelic sounds, to late '80 early 90's indie rock, employed this technique to full, in-your-face, effect. Real Estate fully embraces the reverb in addition to drawing from the above three musical influences with considerable effect on their newest EP Reality.

This EP is an upgrade to last year's self-titled LP on Woodist Records. While I liked the the psychedelic-folk/surf-rock vibe of that album a lot, and really enjoyed the song "Beach Comber" among others, I thought the album on a whole lacked a little definition to the overall sound. It seemed like they needed something else. They sensed this as well, and this EP is a step in the right direction.

It seems to me that Real Estate has drawn upon their fellow New Jersey-ites (ians?) Yo La Tengo on this EP. More specifically, very early YLT circa 1990's Fakebook. This manifests itself more in terms of the song structure (and BIG REVERB), of songs like "Basement", "Saturday Morning" and "Younger than Yesterday". While the band still blends and transforms the psychedelic-folk/surf-rock sound into something fairly unique, this added structure creates a far better overall sound capable of much more interesting things.

I do view this EP as a transitional step though. Lacking on Reality are songs that immediately pop out at you and catch you the way "Beach Comber" did on the previous album. "Basement" did manage to get stuck in my head after a few listens due to its sneaky-goodness though. I'm really looking forward to this band's next album, and judging by the two month gap between the last LP and this EP, that shouldn't take too long.

P.S. So excited about their show with Woods on March 14th! (SQUEEEEEEEAL!!!)

RIYL: Beach Boys, The Byrds, Yo La Tengo, Woods, Girls

Rating: 8.0 (out of 10.0)

Vampire Weekend - Contra

XL, January 12th, 2010

So let's just start off by getting this out of the way. I kind of hate Vampire Weekend. Their blend of prep-school pop just irks me off. I know I shouldn't judge a band by the fact they all went to Columbia. One of my favourite bands of all time, Gallaxie 500, all went to Harvard, but the biggest difference here is that Gallaxie 500 pushed the boundaries of space-rock, and most of the songs were about being stoned. VW on the other hand, embrace their prep-school upbringings. I mean, look at the goddamn cover of their newest album, Contra! The girl looks like she lives on long island and her daddy runs Merrill Lynch.

Ok, now thats off my chest, I'll get to my biased review of Contra...

Vampire Weekend does write some pretty catchy tunes. Their self-titled, debut album was a pretty good, with some good tracks on it like "Boston" and "A Punk". The problem was that with the blow-up success of that album, VW has failed to really write any songs as immediately catchy as the ones on the previous album. Instead they tend to rely on songs that range from some sort of energetic afro/ska/pop in "Cousins" to straight-up, gag-inducing pop of "Giving Up The Gun"

Overall the album has some catchy indie-pop songs, but none that immediately pop out at you. Instead you are left with an album that's listenable but not entirely fully realized and memorable.

Check out: "White Sky", "Cousins" and "Diplomat's Son" (grrrrrr rich people can suck it)

Rating: 4.0 (out of 10)

Show Review: The Dutchess & The Duke

January 12th, 2010

Sneaky Dees, Toronto

I missed the opening bands, but managed to get there right before the The Dutchess & The Duke went on. The place was packed, which was surprising as the Seattle WA boy-girl, folk/country band was relatively over-looked in 2009 (by myself too I'll have to admit). After some sound check issues, TD&TD finally played.

Unfortunately, since this was another lame-ass Toronto crowd, it seemed that half the crowd was watching the band, the other half was drinking and being way too loud in the back. This mix didn't work with the quiet portions of the duo's music, as they seemed to be drowned out by the douche-bags in back (and there were some real specimens). The show must of been written up by NOW Magazine or something. Why do people pay a $13 cover to not watch the band. The bar downstairs is free.

TD&TD did rise up above these distractions during their more up-lifting harmonies in songs like "When You Leave My Arms", "Never Had A Chance" and "Let It Die", which were definite highlights of the night. These harmonies between the married duo are a big reason I like this band. The set was a stripped-down version of their recorded material, with every song consisting of two acoustic guitars and singing. Absent were the electric guitars, pianos, drums and other instruments on the Sunrise/Sunset LP, which I think would of been a better fit for the crowd. The dual guitar/vocals thing would be better suited for a more intimate setting.

Overall the show was OK. The songs listed above were great but the douches and lack of a proper backing band took away from some of the enjoyment of the show. It was funny though because during the show my friend I was with said they looked and sounded really Canadian, which was exactly what I was thinking at the time. I also thought the dude looked like Kevin Smith...

Top 50 Songs of 2009

Here's what I thought were the best songs of 2009. I didn't listen to too many singles or remix tracks, these are mostly all from a full length album.

1. “The Tenure Itch” - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

2. “The Number” - Woods

3. “My Girls” - Animal Collective

4. “Still” - Great Lake Swimmers

5. “Seven” - Fever Ray

6. “Cold Outside” - Raekwon ft/ Ghostface

7. “Wondering What Everyone Knows” - Lightning Dust

8. “Should of Taken Acid With You” - Neon Indian

9. “Here To Fall” - Yo La Tengo

10. “Keep Slipping Away” - A Place To Bury Strangers

11. “Walk About” - Atlas Sound w/ Noah Lennox

12. “Surgical Gloves - Raekwon

13. “Daniel” - Bat For Lashes

14. “Lovesick Teenagers” - Beast Rest Forth Mouth

15. “Holiday” - Pink Mountaintops

16. “Watching the Planets” - The Flaming Lips w/ Karen O

17. “Summertime Clothes” - Animal Collective

18. “In Your Heart” - A Place To Bury Strangers

19. “Lust for Life” - Girls

20. “It Ain’t Going To Save Me” - Jay Reatard

21. “Stillness is the Move” - Dirty Projectors

22. “Execution” - Pink Mountaintops

23. “Heart of Stone” - The Raveonettes

24. “1901” - Pheonix

25. “Big River” - Eamon McGrath

26. “French Navy” - Camera Obscura

27. “Widow of My Dreams” - Obits

28. “Black Swan” - Sunset Rubdown

29. “Crystalized” - The xx

30. “Brownout In Logos” - Oneida

31. “Rockers East Vancouver” - Japandroids

32. “False Jesii Part 2” - Pissed Jeans

33. “Die Slow” - Health

34. “This Tornado Loves You” - Neko Case

35. “2/11 Don’t Forget” - Times New Viking

36. “Again & Again” - The Black Lips

37. “Hazel” - Junior Boys

38. “The Drift” - Big Business

39. “Padded Ghost” - Dan Deacon

40. “Too Young To Love” - The Big Pink

41. “Echononecho” - Mi Ami

42. “Ruby Go Home” - Thee Oh Cees

43. “Stop Talking” - Memory Tapes

44. “Freak Train” - Kurt Vile

45. “Two” - The Antlers

46. “Beach Comber” - Real Estate

47. “Setting Fire To Your House - Blank Dogs

48. “Little Secrets” - Passion Pit

49. “Your Weather” Dinosaur Jr.

50. “Ambivalence Avenue” - Bibio

Top 10 Album Covers of 2009

In no particular order... (but the blank dogs LP is my favourite if you see it in the full 12" form)

Blank Dogs - Under and Under

Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

Bonny 'Prince' Billy - Beware

The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love

Neko Case - Middle Cyclone

Thee Oh Cees - Help

Oneida - Rated O

Pissed Jeans - King of Jeans

Tiny Vipers - Life on Earth

Woods - Songs of Shame

Top 50 Albums of 2009

This list was culled from about 90 albums and EPs which I "gathered" throughout 2009. Each one I listened to at least three times, so as to get a good opinion of them.

1. Lightning Dust - Infinite Light

2. Woods - Songs of Shame

3. Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth

4. Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love

5. Pissed Jeans - King Of Jeans

6. Kurt Vile - Childish Prodigy

7. Obits - I Blame You

8. Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights

9. Dan Deacon - Bromst

10. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

11. Converge - Axe To Fall

12. Girls - Album

13. Japandroids - Post-Nothing

14. Absu - Absu

15. The Pains of Being Pure of Heart - The Pains of Being Pure of Heart

16. Place To Bury Strangers - Exploding Head

17. Sunn O))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

18. Thee Oh Cees - Help

19. Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy

20. Pyramids with Nadja - Pyramids with Nadja

21. Slayer - World Painted Blood

22. Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport

23. Oneida - Rated O

24. Phosphorescent - To Willie

25. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs

26. OM - God Is Good

27. Russian Circles - Geneva

28. Mount Eerie - Wind’s Poem

29. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx PT II

30. Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms

31. The xx - xx

32. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer

33. Animal Collective - Marriweather Post Pavilion

34. Jay Reatard - Watch Me Fall

35. Tiny Vipers - Life On Earth

36. Kylesa - Static Tensions

37. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

39. Eamom McGrath - 13 Songs of Whiskey and Light

40. The Big Pink - A Brief History of Love

41. Mi Ami - Watersports

42. Blank Dogs - Under and Under

43. Memory Tapes - Seek Magic

44. Baroness - Blue Record

45. Megafaun - Gather, Form & Fly

46. The Raveonettes - In And Out Of Control

47. Tortoise - Beacons of Ancestorship

48. Ensiferum - From Afar

49. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career

50. Fever Ray - Fever Ray