Imperfect Sound Forever

2012 Recap: #4

4. Menomena - Moms

Menomena might as well have cut to the chase and named the record Daddy Issues. I mean, Moms is about as close as you can get without going over. These guys have always been pretty tough on their relationships with family, women, and God, but 2012 saw them take it all to a new level of self-absorbed melodrama. Similar to On the Water (a 2011 favorite), Moms finds comfort in blowing things out of proportion - it’s the auditory equivalent of having a good cry.

On the flip side, Menomena give of themselves unendingly in their music. All of their pent-up nervous energy comes out as twitchy, explosive hyper-pop, with more countermelodies and polyrhythms than you can count. Danny Seim’s drumming is, as always, creative, precise, and mind-blowingly powerful, while Justin Harris delivers the goods on guitar, bass, and the band’s signature baritone sax (love it or leave it). Lyrically and musically, Moms is way over the top, and often overwhelming, but there are times when it’s good to hear an album that’s as erratic and self-centered as we are.

“Plumage:”

2012 Recap: #5

5. Lotus Plaza - Spooky Action at a Distance

The words “Deerhunter side project” made me really want to dislike this record. They still do. I tried my damnedest to ignore it with the hope that if I refused to acknowledge its existence, it would go away. I caved and listened to the first single, “Strangers,” and it didn’t really do much for me. It’s still my least favorite song on the record. Somewhere along the way – I think it was this review – I clicked “play” on “Monoliths,” and from the very first sound (phonetically, I believe it’s “whuuurrrp”) my ears perked up. After that, I think Lotus Plaza injected serotonin directly into my brain.

This stuff hits your indie rock pleasure centers so hard and so fast that it leaves you utterly defenseless to its mumbly, shaggy-haired, doe-eyed charm. Simple melodic guitar figures weave in, out, and around each other, slowly growing in numbers and strength while a loping drum beat hypnotizes the listener into believing that the guitar playing isn’t simply good - it’s great.  I think.  Frontman Lockett Pundt belts slow-moving, open-throated melodies like so many Panda Bears before him. There’s way too much delay and reverb. This is every song, and you can’t hear this song too many times.

Weeks after that fateful click, I kept bringing up <i>Spooky Action</i> in conversation, always prefaced by “I don’t really like it but…” as if admitting to liking a totally passable indie rock record would make people forget that I liked really Important bands like The Dismemberment Plan (complete with hard-hitting lyrics like “Well, the pony was kinda funky!”).  After uttering that empty phrase enough times, I finally had to take ownership of, and embrace, the feelings that I have toward this album.  I’m not always a picky, beard-stroking killjoy, and when I’m not, I’m probably listening to <i>Spooky Action at a Distance</i>.

“Monoliths:”

2012 Recap: #6

6. The Men - Open Your Heart

Anyone who’s ever been in a band has, by necessity, been in a first band. If there’s any teenager who’s told you that he or she hasn’t dreamt of being a rock (or pop) star, they’re lying (or will grow up to be an engineer). The thing is, you gotta start somewhere. First bands are a lot of fun because, “Wow, cool, we’re in a band!” First bands are also very creative because “Have we tried it this way yet? No? Oh right, we haven’t tried anything yet!” First bands also fall apart rather quickly because “We have no idea what we’re doing!”

The Men aren’t anybody’s first band. Open Your Heart isn’t even their first record. It takes skill, self-control, and experience to put on an act that comes off this uninhibited and impulsive without actually falling apart. But they’re doing a good job of acting like they’re in a first band as they burn through the album’s opening one-two punch of “Turn It Around” and “Animal” like they’re the first guys to ever open their album with a big one-two punch.  Then they have the nerve to act like they’re the first guys to ever think of following that with a zoned-out psych jam like “Country Song.” It goes on like this for over 40 minutes - think you can guess what “Please Don’t Go Away” is about?  It would all be pretty mind-numbingly doofy if their enthusiasm wasn’t so damn contagious, which is why myself and every other uptight white male (I mean who else listens to Sacred Bones releases?) rightfully lost their shit about Open Your Heart at some point this year.

“Ex-Dreams:”

DUNE AGE: 2012 wrap up

2012 Recap: #7

7. Beach House - Bloom

It’s nearly impossible to tell where Teen Dream ends and Bloom begins. Nine times out of ten, I would use this as a point of criticism, but this year Beach House were able to beat the odds and take things to a new level without drastically altering what they do.

The group opted to focus inward, continuing to refine a sound that was already sonically limited and artistically singular. It takes pressure to make a diamond, and Beach House emerged from the cooker with some of the densest, sharpest, and downright glistening work of their career. It’s all in the songwriting, with every note tuned precisely to the frequency of “jaw-droppingly gorgeous” - the way the bridge of “Wishes” absolutely towers over the rest of the song, or the way “New Year” doesn’t so much have a pre-chours and a chorus, but back-to-back choruses, or the way “Irene” drones on a single chord for nearly 3 minutes (the entire length of lesser songs) and you feel like it wasn’t nearly long enough because, seriously, this shit is stunning.

Of course, Bloom doesn’t have to be so damn overwhelming; it functions great as supremely pleasant background music if that’s more your speed. But the real magic is that it can be both at once: incredibly massive, expertly crafted soundscapes hiding unassumingly within short, melodic pop songs. Did I just compare Bloom to Orion’s Belt?

“Lazuli:”

2012 Recap: #8

8. Grizzly Bear - Shields

It’s hard to say what makes Shields rise head and shoulders above previous Grizzly Bear releases. They’re still painting with the same palette, all chiming guitars, plaintive piano, and sighing orchestral arrangements. It’s just that across the board, the boys (Bears?) have amped their game up, opting to crank the vocals and drums, and more than occasionally let things rip like an honest-to-god rock and roll band. Lead singles “Sleeping Ute” and “Yet Again” teased us with this notion, but unlike the bait-and-switch they pulled in 2009 with “Two Weeks,” they made good on it, offering up some of the liveliest work in their catalog. “Speak In Rounds,” “A Simple Answer,” and the absolutely crushing finale “Sun In Your Eyes” proved that even a band that’s received nearly universal acclaim can tweak their sound, do a victory lap, and get stragglers like myself onto the bandwagon.

“Yet Again:”

oh sweeeeet: LISTS 2012

2012 Recap: #9

9. Moonface - With Siiani: Heartbraking Bravery

As I wrote last year, Moonface’s Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I’d Hoped was Spencer Krug’s first release (under any moniker) that didn’t make my Top 10 list for its year. With time, and the release of Heartbreaking Bravery, I realized that’s because it wasn’t for me. It was for him - a self-centered, navel-gazing affair, Krug mumbling to himself in the corner as he attempted to come to terms with the breakdown of a relationship which can be traced back to 2010’s Expo 86 (yikes, dude), and the dissolution of his more lucrative projects, Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown.

Heartbreaking Bravery finds Krug once again the company of others (Swedish psych-kraut group Siinai, who more than hold their own, occasionally stealing the spotlight), without answers, but at least willing to raise the volume and speak up with his musings. It’s plenty melodramatic, almost comical (check the spoken-word letter to his ex in the middle of “Headed for the Door”) but Krug has always been one for sensationalism, and the presentation makes the sentiments feel much more universal than they did on Organ Music. It’s arguably his strongest work since Dragonslayer, and given what I learned from last year’s release, it makes more sense to view Heartbreaking Bravery not as a definitive statement, but as yet another (very good) chapter in Krug’s ongoing fantastical drama.

“Headed For The Door:”

2012 Recap: #10

10. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music

In the opening line of “Untitled,” Killer Mike lays out the central dichotomy of R.A.P. Music: “You are witnessing elegance in the form of a black elephant.” Over the course of the next 45 minutes, he makes good on the promise, slinging thoughtful ruminations (topics include his relationship with his wife and his position of influence as a public persona) and brute-force exclamations (“Pow, motherfucker, pow!” “I’m glad Reagan’s dead!”) in equal measure. The push and pull between high- and low-brow, cerebral and physical, and plain old good and bad are what makes R.A.P. Music such a thrilling ride – you never know which side Mike is going to come swinging from next.  Either way, he’s going to knock you flat.

“Big Beast:”

2012 Recap: #15-11

11. Matthew Dear - Beams

Like Black City before it, Beams is squishy, crunchy, grimy, and slimy. Previously, these sounds evoked the unease of repeatedly finding yourself sucked into the wrong corner of the club. On Beams, the sun is coming up, and it’s the sound of bodies moving and blood pumping. Of course, it’s way too bright out and you’ve got a throbbing headache, but it’s a good first step on the long walk back to the land of the living.

Beams:

---

12. Adam Arcuragi - Like a fire that consumes all before it…

A new Adam Arcuragi album is an ocassion to remember the simple importance of friends, family, and the intangible (spiritual?) power of singing. If there’s anything better for a tired soul than grabbing a friend, raising a glass, and raising your voice, he hasn’t found it yet.

“Oh I See:”

---

13. Two Dads - Two Dads 2k

Two Dads come hard and fast with riffs and hooks and get out quick. There’s more time for shotgunning beers after the show that way.

“Last Action Rockstar:”

---

14. Animal Collective - Centipede Hz

Centipede Hz sidesteps the big pop moves of Merriweather Post Pavillion, to double down on the nervous twitch of Feels and Strawberry Jam. The result is something that, upon listening, is actually quite appropriately named – a mass of glitchy, robotic individual pieces that manage to congeal into a rather fluid whole. Plus, it helps that Animal Collective can’t avoid slipping in some big hooks even when they’re trying to avoid them.

“Today’s Supernatural:”

---

15. Japandroids - Celebration Rock

Vancouver’s gruesome twosome took 2009’s Post-Nothing and gave the whole thing a +1 to deliver the most knowingly awesome record of the year. The question of if it’s any less awesome because it knows how lofty its ambitions are is rendered irrelevant because, well…it’s fucking awesome.

“Adrenaline Nightshift:”