Ten cool music things that happened in 2016

Mounting distractions throughout 2016 have made me question doing "best of" lists more than any previous year.  I don't see a point in reiterating that Deerhoof and Santigold had great albums this year (because of course they fucking did!).  I've been doing best albums of the year for 11 straight and thinking listing ten albums on a blog nobody reads, in a playlist driven generation... hmm maybe it's time I finally change things up.

So here is a different list, and something positive in a year that is in desperate need of positivity.  Here are ten cool things in music released in 2016!

You guys... the last half of that Jeff Rosenstock album!
Most of WORRY! is Jeff Rosenstock doing what he does best in a fairly predictable manner.  He's still a one-of-a-kind voice for disheveled and jaded punkers punched in the gut by adulthood, but I was feeling some diminishing returns after 20 minutes.  At the album's sappiness peak, "Blast Damage Days", things start to change up.  WORRY! turns into a machine gun of songs, with all the fat trimmed.  They just spit out a good hook and relevant lyric, then bam, right to the next.  It's something I haven't heard done this well since Bad Religion's No Control or Energy by Operation Ivy.

Click this picture of Jeff Glumpet to hear what I'm talking about.

And it isn't just a barrage of retro punk and ska.  "HELLLLHOOOOLE" and "The Fuzz" take you from extreme highs to lows.  All the frustrations and emotions from every song pile up, and set up the lyric "love is worry" better than any single ballad could have.  Ending this chaos with "Perfect Sound Whatever" puts a fantastic "it is what it is" kind of bow not only on the album, but Jeff's whole songwriting and production style.  This clusterfuck of songs is one of the coolest things he's ever done.

Asian Kung-Fu Generation rewrites a fan favorite album from the ground up.
At this point in their career, this is the kind of band that would usually be putting out those heartless remastered anniversary collections.  Instead, AKFG took the risk of messing with one of their most beloved albums, 2004's ソルファ.  I actually love when bands do this, even if they don't end up creating a better product.  In this case though, they may have...

They punch up their ballads with some extra instrumentation, and add extended bridges and intros to some songs (as they have been performed live for the last decade).  ソルファ was the band's first challenge to themselves to be more than an indie pop-punk band, and these veteran takes do those original songs justice.

The Radio Dept. told ya so.

"We Got Game" is still doing a number on me.

It was already interesting enough that The Radio Dept. finally shed their dream-pop facade and made an overt political album, but now that the same issues in Running Out of Love are very real threat to America... boy does this album suddenly become more relevant to a lot more people.




"We know this world is good enough, because it has to be."

Click on this very nice Canadian
to hear a song.

Hey, we all need a hug this year.  Thankfully, John K Samson released Winter Wheat.  His first album since the breakup of The Weakerthans.  In any other situation, Winter Wheat would still be a great album; with JKS' typical songwriting of deep character focus and evocative details.  These past few months, though... When I wanted to turn off the world, but couldn't, Winter Wheat has been my go-to.

Polysics finds another way to blow our minds.

For years, I've been criticizing my favorite band for losing their edge.  What's This??? reclaims it, in a big way.  While this album has its problems (most being too many songs), the first 17 minutes scramble brains with an audaciousness I haven't seen from the band in a dozen years!  For the first time since originally diving into their early discography, I found myself saying "man... I don't know if I can hang with this".  That feeling of sensory overload is wonderful to have again.

Danny Brown hacks rap.

Atrocity Exhibition is gonna be in a lot of 2016 articles, and with good reason.  The gonzo production really sticks out in its genre.  There have been a lot of cries of "This is the craziest thing I've heard all year!"  Obviously, they didn't listen to that Polysics album, but hey, for rap, it does break the mold a bit.  It's got a good 15 minute stretch in the middle, but I'm not wild about this album.  This is why I'm so happy to write this instead of a top ten.  Danny Brown wouldn't have made my top ten, but there is some stuff on here that is cool and worth pointing out.  Like this music video!!

Omar Rodriguez Lopez gets nostalgic


ORL released another stretch of solo albums this year.  It's far too much music to consume, but the one release worth checking out is Arañas en la Sombra.  It's made of old Mars Volta recordings, and features a lot of core Mars Volta members.  I still have warm and fuzzy feelings about the madness that was The Mars Volta in 2001-2008, so this album has been a welcome deja-vu trip.

Kenichi Asai has another banner year.
Living rock deity, Kenichi Asai, usually is reliable for one good record a year.  2016's quota was met early in Sherbets' Crashed Sedan Drive (review here).  What is noteworthy is the announcement of his new band, THE INTERCHANGE KILLS!

Now, aside from a great band name, and a solid lead single in "Messenger Boy" (full album in 2017); what really got me excited is the recruitment of ex-Number Girl bassist, Nakao Kentarō.  Number Girl is the kind of band I always look for excuses to rave about.  At their worst, they were this amazing mashup of Fugazi, Superchunk, and Pixies.  At best, a very ahead of the curve punk-hardcore outfit.  Whenever any members of this short lived band show up in anything, my interest increases by 800%.

The "other" Stranger Things.

Click this adorable picture of Yuck to read
some more nice things I said about their record

Listen, I liked the Netflix show, Stranger Things.  I'm looking forward to season 2.  The album, Stranger Things, deserves some credit though!  No, it's not the show's soundtrack.  It's a shoegaze pop alum by Yuck.  Built To Spill's Untethered Moon was my favorite 2015 album, and Stranger Things is the closest sounding thing to it this year.




METAFIVE puts out the best damn album of the year.
OK, I won't totally abandon top ten.  I'll pick a number one; METAFIVE - META.

This Japanese electronic pop supergroup has been an obvious pick for most of the year.  Towa Tei brings his usual color and flair (wisely reigned in by his cohorts), Cornelius contributes his brilliantly simple and efficient compositions, Leo Imai has a perfect English voice to make the whole thing digestible, and Takahashi Yukihiro (of Yellow Magic Orchestra) holds the whole thing together with veteran precision.  I hope this group sticks around for years.

"We were put to shame acting kind" (The Radio Dept. - Running Out of Love)

pro: heavy in heart and content
con: light in hit singles

This could have been a pretty easy review to write an intro for.  A pithy "Hey, remember the eighties?" or even an appropriate "Hey, remeber The Radio Dept.?"  As it turns out, the reason for a six year gap between albums for this Swedish dream-pop act partly lends itself as to why this review has a different tone than anticipated.

The great (not-so) secret about The Radio Dept. is that they are a punk band at heart.  Their soft mumbling, and etherial sounding synths, set to a dance-floor like tempo, instantly evoke the image of sappy love and loss.  A hard look at their lyrics tell a different story.  The band does not shy from their distaste of their own record label, and being regarded as a band for romantic teens.  Fighting against being what many want them to be has left them at a creative stalemate for six years.  With patience, it seems The Radio Dept. has finally gotten the chance they've been fighting for.  

On the aptly titled Running Out of Love, the "dream-pop" mask is being pulled away more than ever before.  What lies beneath is a very real testament about their homeland's losing battle against xenophobia and fascism.  "Sloboda Narodu" begins with the end.  The end of patience and hopeful thinking.  Aside from a few more electronic bells and whistles, The Radio Dept. hasn't departed far from their last LP; but the clever nods to punk protest are over.  Running Out of Love has a clear message: the fear of "what if" has been replaced with "what is".

Addressing the creep of alt-right takeover in Sweden comes in the topics of the arms industry ("Swedish Guns"), protest suppression ("We Got Game"), capitalist apathy ("Occupied"), and those who put their heads in the sand ("Can't Be Guilty").  With "Teach Me To Forget", The Radio Dept. does not close things out with any real hopeful message.  It sounds more like a heartbreaking fantasy of giving up.

Let's get back to the music.  The Radio Dept. started out with a lot more My Bloody Valentine grime than the New Order like barrage presented today.  Across four albums, this has been a slow transition, so the usual opposition isn't quite as vocal as you would hear from most fanbases.  I've personally enjoyed the transformation.  The heavy synthesized beat that dominates most of the soundscape feels natural, and they have complete control over how it effects the tone of their songs.  I usually prefer rough edges in my music, but Johan's vocals are worth discerning.  They've brought plenty of relevance to their discography by giving each release its own sound.

As far as this album's legacy, there is a hell of a lot to live up to after the heavily praised Pet Grief and Clinging To A Scheme.  The six year gap only gave fans of those albums more time to take in.  Running Out of Love's songs lack that immediate hold "Heaven's on Fire" or "The Worst Taste in Music" do on the listener.  Even going back to songs like that, I clearly imagine them tugging heartstrings in big movie soundtracks.  Everything on this latest release seems dependent on the rest of the entire package to resonate.  I wasn't sure if Running Out of Love has the impact to stand out in their own discography, or in 2016 releases.

Then the U.S. National Election happened.

"that's what works for me" (Nerf Herder - Rockingham)

Why you'll love it: A more creative way to be funny
why you'll hate it: joke songs.  songs that just namedrop pop culture

One of the most idiotic things you can do today is self identify as a geek.  Over the past few years, righteous or simply just cruel "geeks" have spoiled all the fun there is to be had in the world; and that's putting it softly.  The bigger question than "Who the heck wants to listen to Nerf Herder in 2016?" (hey, I do, jerk) would be "How can Nerf Herder put a good face on such a toxic environment?"  The answer to that is with ridiculous humor and glassy-eyed nostalgia.

The opener, "Portland", quickly establishes how Parry Gripp can hold on to the kind of dirty humor Nerf Herder was known for in the early 2000's, without digging his heels into the mud and clinging to the transgressive humor we've outgrown.  "Portland" is such a stupid, random song, it's hilarious.  It starts off with the pretense of being a takedown of Portland hispsters, but all the burns become more oddball until Parry admits that he only knows six things about Portland.

On Rockingham, quirky weirdness becomes the substitute or chaser for when things get a bit too cruel or creepy.  On "Close Your Eyes And Dream", nocturnal voyeurism (surprisingly a Nerf Herder staple) is mostly padded with references to Tommy DiNardo, and Bagatorardis.  When Parry's obsession on "Allie Goertz" starts to get a bit too worrisome, in comes the drummer, communicating through a Speak-N-Spell that he's too old for her.

A couple extremely loyal tribute songs make for some of the best tracks on Rockingham.  "The Girl Who Listened To Rush" and "We Opened For Weezer" do much more than just name-drop a whole bunch of references.  The respective signature sound of these two bands are represented with quite a bit of detail.  That little bit of extra love and care goes a long way.  I wish they had put the same kind of effort into some of the other heavily referential tracks.  "I'm The Droid (You're Looking For)" and "Doctor Who" (couldn't even come up with a clever name for this one?) are literally nothing more than just listing things from the fiction.

A couple other tracks at least put up a little bit of effort.  "Ghostbusters III" uses the idea of a relationship (or hook-up) that will never realistically manifest, as an excuse to spit out a lot of references.  "At The Con" is guilty of just ranting off types of cosplay, but the lines come so fast and furious, I admit a few caught me off guard. It probably shouldn't, but "Gettin' busy with a Pikachu" makes me giggle.

If there is still doubt that this is unmistakably a Nerf Herder album, the ballad "Stock Photo Girl" should put that thinking to rest.  It's straight out of the same vein "Nosering Girl" and "Garage Sale" came from.  The uncomfortably pathetic story painstakingly unfolds, and is funny every step of the way.  It's like an episode of Louie you can sing along to!

It's still joke songs.  There are still some throw away tracks.  Nothing Rockingham does will make anyone into converts, but Nerf Herder really excelled with the album for the little niche they're in.  It's a scary tightrope to both come out of obscurity and release something for a community that is in total unrest at the moment.  It would have been really easy for Nerf Herder to come off as stubborn curmudgeons, or fangless panderers, and they did neither.  Nerf Herder is OK, and Tommy Dinardo is OK, and that that's all that really matters.

"押すとこれがどうなる?" (Polysics - What's This???)

Polysics
What's This???

why you'll love it: Off the charts wild punk rock energy
why you'll hate it: headache-inducing nonsense, too long

Seven minutes into 2016's most appropriately titled album, a single thought emerges from the ruins of my scrambled brain.  "Be careful what you wish for..."

Full disclosure, Polysics is my favorite band.  They have been for about a decade now.  One minute into one of their supercharged electro-spaz punk live sets, that decision had already been made.  Closing in on two decades now, Polysics have worshipped at the feet of their new-wave idols, carved out their own unique style, gone down the brain-busting punk route, have done the big arena sound, made some crowd pleasers,  made some insane ranting songs, dabbled in balladry, blazed on traditional instruments, and wrote songs in step with computers.   The one thing they haven't really dove headfirst into is showing off their technical chops.  It's also been a while since they've made anything that really challenges the listener.

Finally, Polysics have given us a reason to fear them once again, with a 19 track pandora's box of synthesizers, guitars, and screaming.  What's This??? will literally make you shout "What's This???"  The layering is seemingly infinite, the tempo is impossible to grasp on the first few listens, and the pace is enough to make one hyperventilate.  This album is proof of audiogenic epilepsy!

It may take a dozen spins, but the first 7 tracks do have a method to their madness.  What's This??? starts off innocently enough with a typical instrumental and lead single tracks.  They're much better than recent intro/singles, but nothing formula breaking.  "アルプスルンルン" and "Funny Attitude" busts things wide open.  "アルプスルンルン" is monster of intensity, with enough violent swings to cause motion sickness.  "Funny Attitude" suckerpunches you with one of the most sugar-coated choruses in Polysics history, delivered with a "ton of feathers" mentality.

Coming back to these first 7 songs have been a blast, not only because of how layered they are, but the pinballing of tempos stays fresh with plenty of innovation and diversity.  One of my favorite moments of the album is the moment of grace in "アルプスルンルン" that transitions not like flipping a switch, but reeling you in.  The electronic drum crunch that signifies another tempo change in "アルプスルンルン" and "Dig Down" provide that great Wile E. Coyote suspended in air moment before the violence continues.  "Dig Down" has rocketed to the top tier of my favorite Polysics songs.  It sounds like playing every videogame ever made at once... and winning!

What's This??? is no perfect work of madness, sadly.  Straight up, it's too long, even for a fan that seemingly can't get enough Polysics.  19 tracks (at just under one hour!!!) is a deliberate reference to their 19 year anniversary, but the reference doesn't justify what feels like b-side filler for a good 20 minutes of this album.  Most aren't bad songs, but just come off as weak in the company of the better tracks.  "Tempo Tempo Tempo" predictably slows down and speeds up in fun ways.  "Robot Mayim Mayim" does in fact sound like a robot mayim mayim. "Dopplerごっこ" plays with call & response.  "Flying V" is a straightforward fun song about...i think volleyball?  It would have fit in on Karate House, not What's This???  These are all ok songs, but feel too dependent on their gimmicks to capture What's This???'s most prominent aesthetic.

There's only three songs that I feel don't work at all on this 19 track behemoth of an album.  "Vow Vow" has no umph.  "春夏秋冬" is a just as irritating duet as "Kitchen Ban Ban" off 2010's Weeeeeeeeee!!!.  "1.2.3.4" has its heart in the right place, but is far too slow and predictable to hang with anything else on this album.  It's a longer and more repetitive version of "ありがとう" off 2008's We Ate The Machine.

The one thing this album needed was a sweet cooldown ballad near the end.  Sadly, "Hurry Up" is not it.  Even in the shallow selection of Polysics ballads over the years, "Hurry Up" ranks pretty low.

That may seem like a lot of gripe for an album I love dearly, but once again, this sucker is an hour long, and boy do I love half of it.  "Sun Electric" is one of the best singles they've ever made.  It's a fantastic combination of man and machine they've been fine tuning as a trio for 6 years now.  I love the guitar work on "Take Away".  I love the steamroller of sound approach to "Nail" and "Be A Human".  "299" is more proof of when Polysics wants, they can still craft that perfect blend of cutesy pop and punk rock madness.

What's This??? is the most unhinged Polysics has sounded in well over a dozen years.  For the first time since discovering their discography, they gave me that "woah, I'm not so sure I can hang with this" feeling.  I never thought I'd get it again.  This is certainly not for everyone, and that's what makes it so great!  Because of all the extra chaff, this probably won't be one of my favs of 2016, or even one of my top three Polysics albums when it's all said and done; but this feels like a proud landmark release for the band.  It's that last bit of uncharted territory for their sound, and once again sets a bar for modern punk rock lunacy.

"Trying to forget what’s in the past" (Yuck - Stranger Things)

why you'll love it: groovy slo-mo retro rock
why you'll hate it - derivative, middling to poor lyrics

Welcome to your annual check up on 20-ish years ago!  Last year, Bully took us back to the 90s with their debut, Feels Like.  This year, it's Yuck carrying the banner.  Yuck's style is a bit more sloopy shoegaze, less power-pop.  The comparisons to Dinosaur Jr. are true as math.  Max Bloom even has a J Mascis slur to his delivery on slower songs like "Hold Me Closer"

Oh yeah, let's talk about Max Bloom a bit.  Yuck had a well recived debut in 2011, followed by the singer leaving the group.  This is usally a kiss of death for most bands.  The lineup change left a mark, because all I read about from fans is how this band has fallen off a cliff with the loss of their original singer.  Stranger Things has been generally regarded as a good* release
(*but not as good as it should have been!)
Here is the funny thing, the promotions of Stranger Things has been my first exposure to Yuck, and I think it all sounds A-OK.  I even went back recently to hear this debut everyone is so wistful for, and honestly, it didn't grab me as much as this album.  I think they have an improved sound now, and the songwriting/vocals don't strike me as any worse now than they were.  The only gripe against Max Bloom I can muster is that on a couple songs ("I'm OK" especially) he sounds like Dave Grohl.  I'm not saying that sounds bad, but it's odd enough to distract me from an otherwise pretty good song.

Theories of "What you're first exposed to is what you like the most" aside, here's what's on the album - a lot of distorted guitars played at melodic pace.  "Hearts in Motion" and "Yr Face" generate some wonderfully powerful Built To Spill influenced reverberating chords.  The songwriting is probably the albums biggest downfall.  "Hold Me Closer" goes for that "Tiny Dancer" reference a bit too hard to be taken seriously.  The lyrics to "Stranger Things" is either the most dry satire I've ever heard, or sopping with enough angst to make Good Charlotte roll their eyes.  For the most part though, the music is good enough to carry where the songwriting can't get to on its own, especially on the last few tracks.

Stranger Things stands on its own even if you aren't stuck out of time, although being a big fan of the genre certainly helps.  Despite how scorned some fans may feel, it's an entirely competent and well performed release.  The riffs are creative, and they make 4+ minute songs sail right on by.  These songs are essentially from the "shoegaze bummer rock" genre, and they somehow adjust it all into a good time on Stranger Things.

Songs I liked in 2016 (so far)

Best of 2016 (so far) from roomrunner on 8tracks Radio.

"A little color on a greyscale" (Santigold - 99¢)

I first heard of Santigold on the Beastie Boys song "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win".  She's got a cool modern knack for reggae and soul that really sticks out in the pop music world.  I remember checking out her debut album after that, but I must have given up on it quickly.  I should give it another shot though, because 99¢ won't be discarded anytime soon.  It's a wonderful little hodgepodge of not only reggae influenced hip-hop, but retro doo-wop, gritty dub, 80's influenced synth-pop, and strong ballads.

Why you'll love it: Innovative, eclectic, FUN!

Why you'll hate it: Shallow, occasionally uses pop tropes

The lead single, "Can't Get Enough of Myself" is so perfect, it should make other modern pop artists pull their hair out with jealousy.  Normally I can't stand self-aggrandizing pop songs, but "Can't Get Enough..." presents itself with such a dorky sugar-coated melody that it brings my guard down enough to bop along.  Santigold brilliantly uses the music to set up this delirious fantasy world, and makes herself into a character.  It's stupid silly fun, and quite possibly may be the best pop song of the year.  

That's not to say Santigold is cut entirely from a different cloth than most pop artists.  The predictable crescendos of "Banshee" is a prime example of everything I personally hate about modern pop radio hits.  "Banshee" sounds like it was created in a boardroom to sell me Gatorade or a T-Mobile data plan.  "Who Be Lovin' Me" is like a non-tongue-in-cheek version of "Can't Get Enough...", and boy is the difference night and day.  Aside from those two songs, and "Big Boss Big Time Business" sounding a little bit too much like a PaRappa The Rapper stage, 99¢ delivers pure gold.  (There is a pun to be worked out there, but forget it, let's talk about the rest of these great songs)

"Chasing Shadows" plays up to Santigold's reggae-influenced hip-hop skills much better.  I really love the way the falsetto singing clashes with the low-end music on this track.  I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed the slow songs by the end of this album.  Santigold uses electronics brilliantly in her ballads.  The vocal manipulation in "Walking in A Circle" stands out more than anything I could remember on Painting With Animal Collective.  "Run The Races" sounds like building a section of FRACT OSC.

The pop songs that fill out the rock solid second half of 99¢ are nothing to scoff at either.  "All I Got" again proves Santigold is willing to trade in looking cool for a fun pop song with all the "dum-dum-dey"s being thrown about.  It's almost like a Vampire Weekend hit (I mean that in a good way).  The Cyndi Lauper like bubbly delivery (yes, I mean that in a good way too) of "Rendezvous Girl" and "Who I Thought You Were" make those tracks into highlights as well.  Especially "Rendezvous Girl".  It may give "Can't get Enough..." a run for its money for best track.

Santigold isn't exactly this shining knight to slay all of the monsters of modern pop music, but it's great to have someone out that that goes left when most of the mainstream goes right.

"Here for a while I will fall" (Painting With Animal Collective)

Painting With Animal Collective

Why you'll love it:  Appropriately druggy 

Why you'll hate it: The most "safe" and  least interesting AC has ever been

Never thought I'd be saying this about Animal Collective... I've been coming back to this release every few days for the last couple months, and still ending up with very little to reflect on.

Animal Collective is the kind of band that sounds the best when it seems like they're working against your best interests.  It took them a while to get it right, but there is usually this lightbulb moment with their music where everything suddenly clicks and you realize this isn't artsy nonsense, but catchy pop music using a very unorthodox toolset.

Painting With... is a deliberate attempt to be more straightforward, and here is where the problems begin.  Avery Tare gives his vocals a rest, and lets pitch shifters do most of the work for him.  It's amazing how much luster is lost without Avery putting a little bit of umph into his performance.  He just seems to be drifting from one song to the next, leaving the bells & whistles to give the songs personality.

They don't.

The soundscape of Painting With... is shockingly shallow and repetitive.  A lot of cartoon like boings and bloops litter the tracks with no real point.  All the variation in the vocals is left to pitch shifting that feels just as random.  The songs just flat out aren't interesting, they are performed with little emotion, and all the effects just seem to be splashed into the mix.

Painting With... has few highlights.  "FloriDada" kicks the album off with a promise that goes on unfulfilled.  It's a goofy fun bouncy track.  Nothing amazing for AC but welcome change of pace from their usual tone, and one of the only songs sung with a shred of enthusiasm.  No song seems to play along with the bouncy cartoony soundscape like "FloriDada" does.  I especially like the well timed (and well edited) use of the "ahahahahahhaa wipeout" sample.  "Burglars" is the only other track I can recommend, dude to the Micro-Machines Guy like speedy delivery of the lyrics.  Once again, just a little bit of effort into singing goes a long way.

There are a few songs that grab my attention for a moment.  "Bagels in Kiev" starts off okay, but goes nowhere.  "Golden Gal" has a memorable chorus, but it seems like a waste of talent for AC to be writing joke songs.

Everything else is depressingly forgettable.  In the past year, Animal Collective has gone from a band that I thought was untouchable in the studio and unwatchable live, to the complete opposite thanks to this stinker and the fantastic 2015 release, Live @ 9:30.  Sometimes Animal Collective takes you on a long trip that goes nowhere but at least feels epic and important.  Other times they sound like the most horrifying drug trip ever, abut damn if it isn't memorable.  On Painting With... it just feels like they're asking you if you've ever seen a 20 dollar bill... on weeeeeeed?

"trip away" (METAFIVE - META)

METAFIVE
META
why you'll love it: A precious work of electronic pop art
why you'll hate it: some corny lyrics and dated melodies

I'm so excited about having recently discovered this album that I just want to skip the intro and get right to the details.

METAFIVE is a Japanese retro electro-pop supergroup.  I'm not sure who founded it, but Yukihiro Takahashi (drummer of the highly influential Yellow Magic Orchestra) is the most veteran of the ensemble.  Of the modern era, Cornelius is probably the most notable name.  He made his share of fantastic and progressive music for the last 25 years.  If you had somehow found yourself reading this blog, Towa Tei may ring a bell, having released one of my favorite albums of 2015.  Rounding out the cast of familiar names is singer Leo Imai, who, like all the aforementioned, have appeared on Towa Tei albums over the past 5 years.  There are some other guys in this group, but I don't recognize them, so let's get to the music already!!

Of all the influences that go into META, Towa Tei's feels like the most pronounced.  There is plenty of fun, cheesy, 80s synthpop, sung in surprisingly well flowing English.  As with a lot of Towa Tei's work, some of it feels a bit out of touch, or delightfully out of time depending on your mood.  If anything, the rest of the contributors help reign in Tei's quirkiness, and make it feel more special here.

As expected with a supergroup, there is a lot of push-pull of tone throughout the tracklist.  The funky opener, "Don't Move", could have been the theme song to Max Headroom or a Toejam & Earl Saturday morning cartoon.  Then you have the next song, "Luv U Tokio", played straight, with a more calculated sequence of bells and whistles.  Tei's color is but a splash, mixed with Cornelius' depth and atmosphere, and some good old fashioned YMO precision.  Even a well placed YMO reference in the middle!  The music video (above) is a god damn work of art that represents everything I love about restrained, yet vibrant, electronic pop.

The rest of the album is consistently fantastic.  While it certainly helps that the vocals are above average, the mind-blowing soundscape is the heart of META.  It's busting with color, but not in a crazy unhinged drug trip kind of way.  It's like a gigantic disco-powered calculator.  For me, most of the fun is listening for who's influence is where.  "Albore"'s principal refrain is like something right out of YMO's Technodelic.  "W.G.S.F." has that kind of rich production Cornelius was known for in the 00's.

The only complaints are minor nitpicks.  "Disaster Baby" is a little too by the numbers 80's ballad for me to enjoy.  I have no idea why Towa Tei chose to remix "Radio" (a cut from his worst album, Lucky); but then again, the song is a lot better this time around.  The ballads (like "Anodyne" and "Threads") would be boring if done by anyone else, but the top shelf production makes them soar.

I have no idea if this is a one-off or the beginning of something.  I want to treasure these dozen songs like a rare, once in a lifetime comet.  Although, they have the outfits already made...  it would be a shame to hang em up so soon.

"Johnny Bravo" - (Sherbets - Crashed Sedan Drive)

Sherbets
Crashed Sedan Drive

why you'll love it:  Emotional and fun garage rock.

why you'll hate it: Cryptic, plays too much in the middle.

The 2016 music drip is beginning to steady, so it's about time start powering up this blog for another year.  What better way to kick things off than reopening The Church of Asai.  As recorded over the years, I am a massive fan of this classic rock & blues musician, and all of his various recording outfits.  Just last summer, his band Sherbets released one of my favorite albums of the year.  It showcased their skills in emotional performance and atmospheric production.  This side of Sherbets would be as big as Coldplay in a just world.

In a matter of months, Sherbets has released their predictably antagonistic follow up.  The songs of Crashed Sedan Drive have much more of a rev to them, and a good amount of versatility.  The titular song (see above), is just everything I love about this band.  Cascading drums, whirling keyboards, and wild guitar solos cutting through it all like a polar icebreaker.  The most welcome return in Cashed Sedan Drive has got to be... what I can only call Benzie-ing.  Whenever Asai is about to drop a radical sequence on you be precedes it with the most amazing broken English phrasing.  In the song "Crashed Sedan Drive" he throws half a dozen out there, such as "sell-la-beben", "Johnny-crush", and "chrome-boy".  His confidence, and impact of the music push such moments past embarrassing or corny, and right into one-of-a-kind genius territory.

Crashed Sedan Drive has already ranked up there with Mad Disco (2008) as one of my favorite Sherbets albums.  Like Mad Disco, there is a lots of versatility to the track listing, but a consistency of fun rock & roll that knows how to transition into emotional cool down moments.  "俺たちの季節" seamlessly juggles groovy chill and fun hard rock.  Another welcome return is the really cheap sounding artificial horns found in "Canberra Zombies Food Court".  The moment I heard those open up the song, I thought back to songs like "Jamaican Dream", and knew I was in for a treat.  "A Baby" appropriately harkens back to Sherbets' mid-2000 output of soaring-ballads.  "Jolene" and "Jake" have more of the early days heaviness to them.  While last year's album did one thing really well, Crashed Sedan Drive revisits all of the band's melodic strengths; making it one of their most engaging and fun albums to date.

Once again, Kenichi Asai proves himself has a songwriter with incredible universal appeal.  It took him a while to get there.  There are a lot of wishy washy albums over the past 20 years, and lyrically, I still have no idea how legit the songs are.  Musically though, Sherbets is on a fantastic "total package" roll.   They've got a traditional classic rock and blues sound that everyone can get hooked on, emotional performances that transcend language barriers, and are creative enough not to come off as a derivative nostalgia trip.  Please direct me to your nearest "get Sherbets on SNL" internet petition.

The 2015 Whatever Awards!

Hello.

Welcome to my webring!

Here are all the "best of 2015" posts I've made this week


My favorite songs of 2015

Cool cover art of 2015

Great music videos of 2015

Looking back on 2005

Honorable mentions of 2015

MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2015

Five great music videos of 2015

I wanted to make a top five, but the Japanese music industry strikes again.  If you can find music videos for "Something Good" by the telephones, and "I Know" by The Birthday, check them out.

Here is what I have instead...

[Click for video]

BUILT TO SPILL

"LIVING ZOO"

He didn't really have water.  It was just a great sense of humor.

[Click for video]

JOHN CARPENTER

"NIGHT"

This old man has a surprisingly relevant and practical imagination of VR.

[There, do you see it? Click for video]

TOWA TEI

"LUV PANDEMIC"

Look around you.

Look around you.

Just, look around you.

[Click for video.  Or maybe tap, I don't care.]

BATTLES

"DOT NET"

The most "art for the sake of art" I've ever seen crammed into a video

[Click for tacos]

JEFF ROSENSTOCK

"NAUSEA"

This would have been my number one if I were listing them.

Sealing up the 2015 time capsule

I think I once told myself if doing this is still pointless after ten years, I should seriously consider stopping.  So maybe this should be the end?


ehhhhhhh, maybe.  Here are my favorite albums of 2015

NUMBER TEN

SWAMI JOHN REIS & THE BLIND SHAKE
MODERN SURF CLASSICS

Listen to: "Zulu As Kono"



This collection of gritty surf rock beat out some fine pop efforts by Hot Chip, Everything Everything, and Belle & Sebastian.  Such is the power of The Swami.

NUMBER NINE

SHERBETS
きれいな血

Listen to: "ひょっとして"




The best produced album of 2015.  Sherbets have run the boards throughout their almost 20 year existence. きれいな血 is both Sherbets' most beautiful and most powerful album.  The fragile parts are so abundantly layered that when the songs come to a swell, it hits you like a tornado.

NUMBER EIGHT

JOHN CARPENTER
LOST THEMES

Listen to: "Night"



This is one of my feel good moments of 2015.  John Carpenter's work has been very influentual in my life, but it's always been a sore spot to know his prime was before my adolescence.  Finally something comes along that I can be a part of.  Lost Themes digs deep and retrieves some of John Carpenter's enamoring essence.

NUMBER SEVEN

HOP ALONG
PAINTED SHUT

Listen to: "Waitress"



Looking at many other best of lists around the internet, this is the most deserved.  Seeing Hop Along live assured me it was only a matter of time before they released something that made waves.  Everyone has been talking about Frances Quinlan's voice, but lets talk about the songwriting.  It's unpredictable in all the best ways.  Indie rock's most common failure is a band that has all the talent, but no creative delivery.  Hop Along takes you for a ride with their songs, their hooks and high notes sneak up on you.  They've got just as much joy as substance.

NUMBER SIX

TOWA TEI
CUTE

Listen to: "Luv Pandemic"



After perfecting Shibuya-kei, Towa Tei takes his bells and whistles into a world of pure art-pop.  This is the most versatility I've heard out of an already colorful artist.  Maybe it all means nothing, but it sure is stimulating.  There's modern art for ya.

NUMBER FIVE

THE BIRTHDAY
BLOOD AND LOVE CIRCUS

Listen to: a tragically edited version of "I Know"



The Birthday is back in full swing.  Like a typical cool guy, The Birthday effortlessly walked off last year's stumble into a swagger.  Loud and cocky rock music with a compelling psychedelic bent.  Powerful singles like "Mother" and "I Know" are delivered with such confident ease, as if saying "this isn't even our final form".

NUMBER FOUR

TITUS ANDRONICUS
THE MOST LAMENTABLE TRAGEDY

Listen to: "Lonely Boy"



Okay, time to have the +@ discussion.  If this album were only the first 45 minutes, it would be my no 1, hands down.  Instead, something much more ambitious was created.  Another 45 minutes of ups & downs, hits & misses, diversions & dead ends.  The "tragedy" side of this album can easily be labeled as an anchor, but it does serve to make this the band's most memorable and important release probably ever.  I wish this album was better, but kind of love it the way it is.

NUMBER THREE

THE GO! TEAM
THE SCENE BETWEEN

Listen to: "Catch me on The Rebound"



The Go! Team huddles up and changes their playbook with their fourth release.  The retro pop sound is wonderfully mixed, with a strong assembly of obscure guest performers.  This record really does sound like something found in a dusty attic that hasn't been rooted through since 1979.

NUMBER TWO

BLUR
THE MAGIC WHIP

Listen to: "My Terracotta Heart"



Ten years after Demon Days, Damon Albarn is still getting it done.  I never knew I wanted Blur to come back this bad!  It manages to assemble the very best of Blur's moments throughout the 90s, and everything Alburn has learned with Gorillaz into a tasty ice-cream swirl.  Over 50 minutes long, and I wouldn't cut a single track.

NUMBER ONE

BUILT TO SPILL
UNTETHERED MOON

Listen to: "So"



This is an arrest.  I'm taking everyone who covers music to jail.  I haven't seen Untethered Moon on a best of 2015 list anywhere!  Not even the deep end of a top 50.  That is CRIMINAL!  Play this album, and a portal to 1999 opens up.   Built To Spill had been operating on low-batt for 15 years, and that only serves to make this "plucked out of time" release all the more epic.   This is my The Force Awakens.

Opening up the 2005 time capsule

Looking back at 2005, it was a banner year for a bunch of reasons.  I'll get to most of them in a moment.  I specifically remember 2005 as the year I started really caring about discussing music.  I don't think I was finding something to write about on a weekly basis quite yet, but certainly remember making a top ten that year.    Usually, I've done these "ten years ago" lists from the perspective of "if I knew what I know today, this is what my top ten would have been".  This is the first year I have something pretty solid to compare to.

I remember my old top 10 having Gorillaz, Beck, Reel Big Fish, and Hot Hot Heat.  Old habits must die hard, because most of those stayed.  Beck's Guero felt really special at the time because it was like a long overdue sequel to Odelay, but The Information blew that out of the water a few years later.  I cut the Killer 7 soundtrack, Spoon's Gimmie Fiction, Thunder Lightning Strike (The Go! Team), The Runners Four (Deerhoof), Polysics' first deep dive into pop music in Now is The Time!, even the god damn debut LCD Soundsystem album!  2005 was packed, and the running theme in what stayed is "lightning in a bottle".  Almost every album has this "never again" historical stigma to it.  Here's why...

NUMBER TEN

GIANT DRAG
HEARTS & UNICORNS


Listen to: "Slayer"


A just culture would have seen Hearts & Unicorns as the beginning of an amazing career for songwriter, Annie Hardy.  To this day, I'm still not sure how much of her persona is a shoot or work.  Actually... I'm... gonna check if she's still alive...

ok phew.  Alive, and same as ever.  Anyways, this album rocks.

NUMBER NINE

REEL BIG FISH

WE'RE NOT HAPPY TIL' YOU'RE NOT HAPPY

Listen to : "The Joke's on Me"

Yeah, this is happening.  For the last time ever (most likely), I'm saying it...  Reel Big Fish were most known for being a silly ska band that stumbled into a record deal because of the three months in 1997 when ska was big.  What keeps them on my iPod today is Aaron Barrett's unrelenting cynicism.  His self deprecation set to the tone of "happy-go-lucky power pop" reaches an apex on their final major label release.  After this album, the band deteriorated, as they tried to become something they kind of never were meant to be; a silly ska band.  As far as I'm concerned this is their swan song.

NUMBER EIGHT

ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI
IN CASE WE DIE

Listen to: "Frenchy, I'm Faking"



In 2005, indie twee-pop hadn't quite reached its tipping point yet, and nobody looked more golden than Architecture in Helsinki.  In Case We Die was their Rushmore.  It was their cute, colorful, 5th grade art class charm, with a big budget.  Just like the previous two albums on this list, we never saw another one of these albums.  AiH went on to greener pastures... for one album.  Let's never mention them again.

NUMBER SEVEN

BLOC PARTY

SILENT ALARM

Listen  to: "Banquet"

Never again.  Bloc Party started a revolution.  A resurgence of post-punk in the UK charts.  A lot of bands followed suit.  They didn't.  Three albums followed, in three different genres.  As neat as it is for a band to have a career like that, Bloc Party never crawled out from under the shadow of Silent Alarm.  It's that good.  Still that good.

NUMBER SIX

HOT HOT HEAT

ELEVATOR

Listen to: "Pickin' it up"

How this album didn't have a dozen radio hits is a question for the ages.  This is the most fun and confident with pop music Hot Hot Heat ever got.  This is one of the few bands on this list that fumbled what they had going.  The album after this one was in the same vein, but a total dud; which led to the band falling off the face of the Earth for a few years, and returning with a new sound.

NUMBER FIVE

HORSE THE BAND

THE MECHANICAL HAND

Listen to: "Octopus on Fire"

Of all the parallel universes from this top ten, I'd most like to visit the one where Horse The Band runs with all the themes that made The Mechanical Hand great.  The decision to turn away from overt humor and video game references in their already ridiculous moog-assisted grind-core style makes sense.  You don't want to come off as shallow.  As a result, nothing Horse The Band went on to do had as much impact as The Mechanical Hand.  It's probably the most fun I've ever had with grunty vocals and chugga guitars.

NUMBER FOUR

METRIC

LIVE IT OUT

Listen to: "Handshakes"

Wow, what ever happened to Metric?  They put out an album in 2015, and I didn't even give it a shot. That's how low their stock has fallen since Live it Out, which still resonates today.  The take on 80's aesthetic is still hip.  Not ironic, or cheesy.  Seriously hip!  Emily Haines' social critiques and feminist anthems still have an edge to them.  No songs have lost their luster.  Somehow, nothing they've done since has had enough energy to power a wristwatch.  I ask again... what happened?

NUMBER THREE

SLEATER -KINNEY

THE WOODS

Listen to: "What's Mine is Yours"

Well... at least I can stop saying "man, what went wrong with this band?", because Sleater-Kinney came back in 2015 with a pretty good record.  It doesn't match up to the kind of power The Woods throws, but to be fair, neither does demonic possession.

NUMBER TWO

TEAM SLEEP

Listen to: "11-11"

Every 8 months or so I google Team Sleep, hoping for something new.  There have been vauge promises that never come true, so I might as well just accept the next closest thing.  What may have been Team Sleep songs probably morphed into †††, or some of Deftones' more experimental material.  Nothing quite hit that special balance between dream-pop, trip-hop, hardcore, chill-wave, witch-house, beauty-core, root-down, post-noir, chamber-blues, future-dub, past-step, present-drift -okay I'll stop.  

NUMBER ONE

GORILLAZ

DEMON DAYS

Listen to: the whole damn thing

Still the best 2005