If you were to scroll through my iPod, you would see the artist or group I have the most songs by are the Beastie Boys with 68 tracks total. I was very saddened to receive a text from my friend detailing MCA's passing. Adam Yauch and the boys provided an essential soundtrack for my teenage years. To this day Beastie Boys songs never fail to brighten up my mood when I'm feeling dark and dreary. If the seas of society are pulling you under, the Beastie's music can be the buoyancy you need. The group's output spans seven albums over 20 years. Along side Ad Rock and Mike D, MCA meandered from punk to hip hop. There were massive hits and overshot misses, yet the BBs never failed to electrify my ears like a live wire.
I'm thinking about putting the super sized Beastie Boys poster I took down from my bedroom wall back up. Years ago I deemed it too immature and removed it. But now in MCA's honour, I may have to locate some thumb-tacks.
Photo version of my pubescent poster
Of course there are Beastie Boys classics no one can deny. Sabotage, Slow and Low and Intergalactic, to name a few. I personally tended to gravitate towards the more obscure tracks. Aside from Hello Nasty, their recent releases found the trio at peak performance level. To The Five Burroughs and Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 2 are funky and magically modern respectively. In addition, if you haven't heard their Grammy-winning instrumental album The Mix Up, give it a listen. I can't count how many articles I hammered out with that lyric-less masterpiece encouraging my keystrokes.
MCA will live on forever in the ears of appreciative music fans. He delighted us with his rapid fire rhymes and made the outcasts feel welcome thanks to Beastie Boys' non-judgemental philosophy. For the decades of artful entertainment; I feel gratitude.
Twenty Questions
I Want Some
Here's A Little Something For Ya
Dub The Mic
3 MCs and 1 DJ (Live video take)
Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (Extended video)
2011 was a good year for music; keyword being good. There were a lot of good albums last year but I struggled to choose great albums to include on this list. These eight collections are albums I know I will be listening to for years to come. Additional good albums with questionable staying power have been included as honourable mentions.
Cults
Cults
New Yorkers Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion have elaborated on the under the radar popularity of their debut EP with this self-titled full length release. Cults is pretty pop music punctuated with the right amount of punk imperfection on tracks like Abducted (below), creating an album that manages to be modern while throwing back to the sweet sounds of the '60s. Other tracks like Go Outside, You Know What I Mean and Walk At Night are strictly pop and just might usher the use of keyboards and xylophones back into indie fashion.
Abducted
What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
The Vaccines
I didn't know what to expect from The Vaccines and it was very surprising to learn that this is the English band's debut. It may be their first album but this Justin Young-fronted quartet already sound like well rounded veterans. The Vaccines have drawn comparisons to The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Ramones but I'd say they are more accurately described as a more industrious incarnation of Interpol. The Vaccines themselves say they are inspired by "'50s rock 'n' roll, '60s garage, girl groups, '70s punk, '80s American hardcore, C86 [a compilation released by UK music mag NME] and good pop music." Just like most good pop music, the majority of their debut effort is incredibly catchy. From the short and strikingIf You Wanna to the melodic Blow It Up, The Vaccines haven't exactly reinvented rock but they've interpreted it with such clarity that it will inevitably catch on.
Post Break Up Sex
The Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
Beastie Boys
It's bewildering to me that The Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 isn't on more critics' best of 2011 lists. Less serious than To The 5 Boroughs and more entertaining than Hello Nasty, this album is some of the most fun the trio has had in decades. Whether they're challenging Santigold (Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win), telling off their wives (OK), encouraging fellow artists (Say It) or rapping along side Nas (Too Many Rappers) The Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 is a sample heavy, smile inducing LP.
Make Some Noise
Wild Flag
Wild Flag
I did not enjoy Wild Flag at first listen. Maybe it's because as two Wild Flag members are Sleater-Kinney vets I was expecting something else or because Carrie Brownstein's voice is a very acquired taste. Subsequent listens later, I can't deny that Wild Flag's hooks are rock perfection and Brownstein and Mary Timony's guitar work is some of the best fingering my ears have had all year. Making Wild Flag easily the best guitar record of 2011.
Wild Flag isn't dissimilar from the Sleater-Kinney sound but the absence of Corin Tucker is immediately obvious. What's missing is the softer pop edge Tucker provided. In its place Brownstein, Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss, former Helium member Timony and The Minders' Rebbecca Cole deliver neoteric, psychedelic, keyboard infused rock. Standout tracks include Future Crimes, Boom, Glass Tambourine, and Something Came Over Me, which has Timony taking to the mic. Look for a not so subtle dig at Arcade Fire in the video for Romance (below.)
Romance
David Comes To Life
Fucked Up
I never thought I'd adore a hardcore punk record described as a "a rock opera love story between a boy named David and a girl named Veronica." Then I listened to David Comes to Life by Toronto's Fucked Up and found myself engrossed in their nihilistic narrative. If you can appreciate Damian Abraham's scream-o vocals you too will learn to love Fucked Up's symphonic and sometimes sick story. As a bit of serendipity the track Queen of Hearts (below) features guest vocals by another entry on my best of 2011 list, Cults' Madeline Follin.
Queen of Hearts(listen to the album version here.)
The Other Shoe
Sound Kapital
Handsome Furs
Sound Kapital is another record I thought didn't get the attention it deserved last year. Montreal's Dan Boeckner and Alexei Perry continue to be inspired by Eastern Europe on their third album but have traded largely guitar based sounds for '80s keyboard kitsch. This amalgamation of the rocky and the retro has become the duo's signature sound. Tracks like Repatriated, What About Us, DamageandBury Me Standingdemonstrate that Handsome Furs are one of the most underrated and inventive Canadian acts creating music today.
No Feelings
El Camino
The Black Keys
Much like Arcade Fire last year, The Black Keys have been rightfully dubbed the "it" band of 2011. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have cited iconic '70s rockers like T. Rex and The Cramps as influences for the music of El Camino. These references are spot on as El Camino is full of glam heavy, glitzy riffs, making for an album that is much catchier and livelier than their last record, the amazing Grammy-winning, Brothers. I challenge any listener not to have hooks from songs likeLonely Boy or Run Right Backimprinted on their brain after an earful of this album.
Dead & Gone
Let England Shake
PJ Harvey
Since I blogged extensively about Ms. Harvey late last year, I'll direct you my post titled 20 Years of PJ Harvey. As I embedded my four favourite tracks off Let England Shake in that post, here's my fifth fav song from PJ's arresting, Mercury Prize-winning album.
I first heard that the term "420" was coined because in California the police code for marijuana-related offences is numerically 420. This information appears to be false; that's what you get for taking the word of a high school stoner. Other unsubstantiated explanations include "April 20th is the day Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and/or Jimi Hendrix died," "April 20th is the best day to plant your crop," or "The Grateful Dead always stayed in room 420 while on tour."
The real origin comes from a group of San Rafael High School classmates in California who would meet up at 4:20 p.m. every day to blaze.
Growing out of that tale, the numbers 420 have now come to signify that 4:20 p.m. is the socially accepted time of day to partake in weed smoking; sparking up before that time would mean you are just an aimless stoner.
As almost every Canadian knows, April 20th is the day anyone can assemble on Parliament Hill to smoke without fear of persecution or arrest. There are also large demonstrations in the Canadian cities of London, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
In addition there are many pop culture and industry references to 420. The clocks in Pulp Fiction are all stuck on 4:20. New York's 420 Tours arranges travel to Jamaica and the Netherlands and Atlanta's Sweetwater Brewing Co. sells a 420 beer and opens its doors to the public at 4:20 p.m.
Sadly April 20th is also associated with some dark historic facts. Today also happens to be Hilter's birthday and the anniversary of the Columbine shootings.
Below you'll find some of the best songs that pay homage to an activity many will engage in today. I was going to include Because I Got High but I forgot for some reason.
The weather may be biting and turning bleak but the presses are burning and producing at a blistering pace; busy spitting out new releases for fall and the upcoming holiday season. In this post I'll look at the releases I'm most looking forward to and some that have recently dropped, including the delayed return of some prolific post-punk pioneers (Gang of Four), a devilish yet dainty DJ (TOKiMONSTA, album cover below), an offering from the UK's favorite pop outfit (Belle & Sebastian) and a box set from Mr. Electric Ladyland himself (Hendrix.)
RECENTLY RELEASED
Manic Street Preachers - Postcards From A Young Man
It's been fifteen years since guitarist Richey Edwards disappeared- yet that unfortunate event didn't stall the Manics' creative output. Following up 2009's Journal For Plague Lovers, Postcards From A Young Man debuted at #3 on the UK charts and James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire have both said the album is "one last shot at mass communication."
Manic Street Preachers - (It's Not War) Just the End of Love
Watch the one-take, embedding disabled video here.
Bad Religion - The Dissent of Man
Check off album fifteen for this renowned Californian punk band. Bad Religion continue to tell tales of dystopian doom and challenge the establishment on their latest effort, fittingly released on Brett Gurewitz's Epitaph Records.
Bad Religion - Devil in Stitches (Live)
Corin Tucker Band - 1000 Years
Sleater-Kinney's Corin Tucker has teamed up with Golden Bears' Seth Lorinczi and Unwound's Sara Lund for her first solo album. Tucker has called 1000 years "a middle-aged mom record," and if the first single (below) is any indication, she's a mom I'd love to bake cookies with.
Corin Tucker Band - Doubt
Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
Lanky Kim Deal-lover Bradford Cox is back fronting Deerhunter with their fourth release. On Halcyon Digest the "ambient-punk" label is sometimes shrugged off and sometimes wrapped around their music like a warm, tattered yet comfortable overcoat.
"The album's title is a reference to a collection of fond memories and even invented ones, like my friendship with Ricky Wilson or the fact that I live in an abandoned Victorian auto harp factory," Cox said. "The way that we write and rewrite and edit our memories to be a digest version of what we want to remember, and how that's kind of sad."
Deerhunter - Helicopter
Neil Young - Le Noise
Canadian legend Neil Young has enlisted the producing prowess of Gatineau-born Daniel Lanois for Le Noise. Young's last album, Fork in the Road, left me a bit underwhelmed and I was hoping Le Noise would offer some reprieve; however recent reviews have been mixed. The album peaked at #2 in Canada and #14 on the US Billboard 200.
Neil Young - Angry World
Neil Young - Le Noise - The Film
KT Tunstall - Tiger Suit
Soulful Scottish siren KT Tunstall returns with her well-received third album, Tiger Suit. Recorded at the same German studio where Bowie laid down Heroes, Tiger Suit's blend of light rock and techno-pop may usher in Tunstall's breakthrough on this side of the pond.
KT Tunstall - (Still A) Weirdo
UNKLE - The Answer EP
British electronic outfit UNKLE have dabbled in everything from acid house to experimental rap. The Answer EP may just be remixed remnants salvaged from the scraps of Where Did The Night Fall, but still manages to be captivating and complete (for an EP.)
UNKLE featuring Big In Japan (Baltimore) - The Answer
TOKiMONSTA - Midnight Menu
Los Angeles audio architect Jennifer Lee amalgamates live instrumentation and percussion mixed up with material from vinyl and digital sources under the moniker TOKiMONSTA. Lee's past as "an unfocused pupil of classical piano" has equipped her with an ear for flowing electronica; making for a percolating primordial album.
TOKiMONSTA - Sweet Day
TOKiMONSTA - The World Is Ours
Detroit Grand Pubahs - Madd Circus
I had to include Detroit Grand Pubahs because that Sandwiches song was, and still is, stupefied/superb. Madd Circus follows 2008's Nuttin' Butt Funk and the single below is evidence the Pubahs are still capable of serving up some severely strange side dishes.
Detroit Grand Pubahs - Maybe I Do
Teengirl Fantasy - 7AM
Oberlin College cohorts Logan Takahashi and Nick Weiss are riding the chill wave to club play success as Teengirl Fantasy. Heralding back to dreamy 80's electronica, 7AM is a an album of retro/disco tracks, double-stacked with R&B and delivered on a fluffy pink cloud.
Teengirl Fantasy - Cheaters
OCTOBER
Belle & Sebastien - Write About Love
It's hard to believe that Bell and Sebastien have been dispatching their delectable ditties for close to fifteen years. With I Didn't See It Coming, which has Sarah Martin singing lead, they continue to deliver wistful pop washed over with modern influences.
Belle & Sebastien - I Didn't See It Coming
Less Than Jake - TV EP
Florida ska veterans Less Than Jake have put together a punk pastiche of TV theme covers. Listen to the sixteen song EP, which runs under 13 minutes, here or a large portion below.
Less Than Jakes - TV EP
Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Sufjan Stevens has straddled the line between electronic and folk beginning with 2000's A Sun Came. Since then Stevens has put out nine albums, including his latest, The Age of Adz (pronounced odds.) A follow up to the hour long All Delighted People EP, The Age of Adz appears to be Stevens' grandiose pop manifesto, which he describes as "pop songs [that are] kind of imposed over sequences of sound"
Sufjan Stevens - The Age of Adz
Kings of Leon
Kings of Leon's debut EP fructified in 2003 when four Followills locked themselves in a basement with an ounce of weed. Now on their fifth disc, KoL attempt to build on the massive success of their Grammy winning album Only By the Night. Come Around Sundown will likely feature more sexually charged lyrics not unlike those heard on Sex on Fire, Charmer and Holy Roller Novocaine. "We're all pretty charming. We're from the South, it's been bred into us," Nathan said in an interview with Xfm. "I'm better at break up lines, like 'Are there people following you? Because I'm seeing people behind your back,'" Matthew added.
Kings of Leon - Radioactive
Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. - Record Collection
Mark Ronson is not a household name in North America; most people could identify Samantha Ronson before Mark. However unlike Lindsay Lohan's DJ squeeze, Mark Ronson won the Producer of the Year Grammy in 2008 for his work with Amy Winehouse; he has also collaborated with Christina Aguilera, Adele and Kaiser Chiefs. Record Collection marks Ronson's third album with The Business Intl. and said in an interview with The Observer that the album sounds "as if a really talented band from 1972 had got a Daft Punk CD in the mail and had to work out how to play it."
Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. featuring Q-Tip & MNDR - Bang Bang Bang
Mark Ronson & the Business Intl. featuring Simon Le Bon & Wiley - Record Collection
Mark Ronson album preview
Gold Panda - Lucky Shiner
Gold Panda's interest in mechanized music was sparked as a teen when his producer uncle gave him an old sampler. By his late 20's, Gold Panda, who claims his birth name to be Derwin Panda, was remixing and producing for British behemoths like Little Boots and Bloc Party. Last year he released limited edition pressings of the singles Before and You; Lucky Shiner is Gold Panda's first full length album.
Gold Panda - Same Dream China
NOVEMBER
Jamiroquai - Rock Dust Light Star
For me Jamiroquai is an occasional guilty pleasure; years have passed where I just wasn't feeling Jay Kay and company's groove. Yet every now and then an earful of one of Jamiroquai's acid jazz joints or neo-soul tracks can alleviate a down turned mood and bust the most funktronic of funks. In addition to playing to old strengths, Rock Dust Light Star will see Jay Kay getting softer on songs like Blue Skies.
Jamiroquai - White Knuckle Ride
Jimi Hendrix - West Coast Seattle Boy
A follow up to Valleys of Neptune, West Coast Seattle Boy is another posthumous Hendrix release overflowing with previously unreleased songs and live recordings. The box set is comprised of four CDs and a DVD of Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Child, Bob Smeaton's biographical documentary detailing Hendrix's rise to fame and eventual death.
Jimi Hendrix - Castles Made of Sand (from Axis: Bold as Love - 1968)
Elvis Costello - National Ransom
Declan Patrick MacManus, or the other musical Elvis, has skipped and jumped genres over the course of his continuing career. From punk to new wave to country, Costello has set tuneful trends then turned around and deserted the movement he instigated. This gypsy-like approach to music has produced some interesting records and on National Ransom Costello has allied himself with Academy Award winning producer and songwriter T. Bone Burnett.
Elvis Costello - National Ransom trailer
N.E.R.D. - Nothing
From the trio that brought us that perennial stripper anthem Lapdance, comes Nothing. Judging by the first single (below) the album's contents won't fall into line with it's name. Which is fitting as the music buying masses have come to expect much more than "nothing" from Neptunes Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo and vocalist Shay. Nothing's release date was pushed back from a September release, most likely due to the hiring and prompt dismissal of singer Rhea.
N.E.R.D. featuring Nelly Furtado - Hot-n-Fun
WINTER & BEYOND
Beastie Boys - The Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1 & Pt. 2
release date unknown
Originally slated for release in late 2009, Beastie Boys' latest album has been on hold since MCA, or Adam Yauch, was diagnosed with cancer of the salivary gland. The Hot Sauce Committee is the follow up to their Grammy winning 2007 instrumental album, The Mix Up. Hot Sauce has been broken up into two parts as the boys created arrangements in excess during the writing process and decided to classify them accordingly. "Pt. 1, had too many songs, so we recorded some more songs; which sounds bizarre but it actually worked out, because it made it clear to us which songs were going to be on Pt. 1. Then we had this whole other album of songs," Mike D told Drowned Sound in 2009.
As of October 2010, the band posted a message on their site saying that Pt.1 will be delayed indefinitely and curiously, Pt.2 will be released in the the spring of 2011 before Pt.1 hits shelves.
Beastie Boys - Lee Majors Come Again (from The Hot Sauce Commitee Pt. 1)
Seaweed - Small Engine Repair
release date unknown
The collective indie crowd has been awaiting new material from Seaweed for quite some time- 12 years in fact- as 1998's Actions and Indications was their last album of new material. The release date for Small Engine Repair was announced in 2007, yet Seaweed remains out of stock on shelves across the continent. Enjoy this classic Seaweed track while you cower and cry in anticipation.
Seaweed - Start With (from Spanaway - 1995)
Gang of Four - Content
January 25 2011
Post punk rockers Gang of Four announced the release of a new album last spring, however Content has been delayed countless times and no single has been released as of October 2010. It appears financial troubles are to blame; the band has teamed up with pledgemusic.com in an attempt to raise funds to finish recording as well as contribute to charity. You can watch a comment from Andy Gill and listen to the track Do As I Sayhere.
Gang of Four - Natural's Not In It (from Entertainment! - 1979)
