Mixtape!

After a long gap, I have finally made a new mixtape. For your listening pleasure, I present to you Multitrack Sneakattack, vol. XI: Shooting Stars in Your Breakfast Cereal.

Enjoy.

Top Six of 2010 1/2

Alright. Six months, six records. Admittedly, I might be a little behind new releases, but still. There shouldn't be too many surprises if you've been following me.

6. Jonsi - Go

Life in record form. Sigur Ros has always had a talent for conveying the human experience in musical terms, and their frontman must be a large part of that, because his solo record is bursting with exuberance and beauty and sadness and joy.

5. Dignan - Cheaters and Thieves

Atmospheric and intense at the same time, this is one of those great records by someone you've never heard of before that blows you away. The musicianship leaves nothing to be desired, and the lyrics are poignant and painfully honest. If you know me at all, that earns extra points from me.

4. Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record

What to say about Broken Social Scene? They just know what they're doing. This record features the band, a few of the members new parents, balancing their newfound maturity with the rock 'n roll ethos. Also, the track "All to All" showcases the female vocalists' best interplay to date, over a catchy electronica beat.

3. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

To be honest, I wish I could put it higher. This is such a solid, solid pop record. Mos Def? Bobbie Womack? Lou Reed? Little Dragon? Damon Albarn brought in the best collaborators to date, which showcases less of Albarn's vocals, and more of his composing and songwriting. It's more synth based than the other releases, and comes across like a sort of Clash/Michael Jackson crossover. A completely brilliant album. I check for news on a vinyl pressing about once every two weeks.

2. Broken Bells - Broken Bells

Now, I don't always get excited about supergroups...Raconteurs don't thrill me, and I'm mostly apprehensive about Thom Yorke's Atoms For Peace. But when I heard that James Mercer of the Shins and Danger Mouse formed a side project, I knew I had to hear it. From the first drunken/broken keyboard line to the last cries over a drum machine, this record is immaculate, melding indie, pop, hip hop, electronica, and traces of psychedelic rock for a most satisfying experience.

1. MGMT - Congratulations

Almost everyone I know hates this record. I only mention that because it's proved impossible to talk about this disc without mentioning its predecessor, Oracular Spectacular, which treaded similar psychedelic ground--except for the three extremely danceable synthpop singles for which everyone bought the record. But as for Congratulations, it has been accused of being aimless, of noodling too much, shifting moods before one has time to establish itself. And that's true. But isn't that the point of psychedelic rock in the first place? Congratulations follows the psychedelic spirit of Pink Floyd's "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" and The Doors' "Strange Days," creating a psych-revival record that stands on its own, regardless of its predecessor.

A Tale of Two Pink Floyds

Ever since I was first introduced to "The Wall" in ninth grade, I have been a big Pink Floyd fan--particularly their progressive rock material. Now...I know that prog-rock has a bad rap, but I maintain, even after all these years, that the genre did actually have more to it than lead guitarists and keyboardists competing for the longest solo and drummers with more pieces in their drum set than I have jeans with compromising holes in them. Say what you will, but I have long been a fan of The Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd, Genesis, and the like.

When I was living in Chicago, however, my roommate, an opponent of all things arena-filling and mainstream, told me that Floyd's first release, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn," would forever dismiss "The Wall" as sopping with self-indulgent egoism. I have since come to appreciate "Piper" and psychedelic rock as a whole a great amount (see: The Beatles - "Magical Mystery Tour," The Doors - "Strange Days," Cream - "Disraeli Gears"). And so, I just put "The Wall" on, just to see what would happen.

In reality, we have to submit that there are two Pink Floyds--Syd Barrett's (and his band that continued his work after he left; see "A Saucerful of Secrets") and Roger Waters'. Syd's Pink Floyd was an adventurous bunch, pushing the boundaries of sound and their label's faith in them. Under Barrett's manic direction (for those of you unfamiliar with the Pink Floyd story, he left the band shortly after Piper's release after suffering a mental breakdown induced by his drug addiction) the band created an album that flew in the face of what everyone thought they should be doing, and it became the anthem for a scene that had already caught the creative interests of the Fab Four. But without Barrett, the group handled the whole psychedelic thing like a bored fish out of water. Five years after Syd's departure, the band finally seemed to have ground under its feet--and lots of it. They released an album you may have heard of called "Dark Side of the Moon," which remains one of the best selling records of all time, thirty-seven years after its release.

But to listen to the first two albums and everything following "Dark Side," there's not too much to indicate that (for the most part) the same people were behind it. "Piper" and "Saucerful" obscure themselves in Eastern rhythms and abstract lyrics, almost hiding behind walls of reverb and effected keyboards. "Dark Side" and everything that follows is relatively straightforward. Guitar solos litter nearly every track, and the lyrics are much more concrete, albeit retaining a little bit of a haze. The keyboards are less strictly atmospheric. The studio tricks are still there, but they are used less to obscure and more to shine the tracks up. The long instrumental passages remain, but they are less like clouds blowing in and more like an overture. To put it to the Western, mainstream viewpoint, the later releases are more "musical" than experimental. It seems to be more composed than it seems to have been randomized. Where Barrett's Pink Floyd was more abstract, Roger Waters' sought grandeur (some might say delusionally so).

Which brings me to "The Wall" -- the concept album of all concept albums (concept albums are also a bad rapped musical form that I am not entirely opposed to). While "The Wall" is guilty of many of the things it is accused of being -- self-indulgent, bigger than big, contrived, over-produced, etc. -- it is also a masterpiece in its own right. It is the peak of Pink Floyd's ambitions; but that doesn't mean it's the best. Most of the album is perfectly done. The music itself is masterfully done, with the exception of the "The Trial," which is less rock opera and more straight opera, which doesn't rightly serve the group's strengths -- most notably David Gilmour's guitar work, which is incredible throughout the record. It mainly seems like Roger Waters was unsure how to end the project, and to be fair, it's mostly his own fault for building everything else to be so big that it takes an orchestra-backed piece with Waters imitating the voices of the judge, the school teacher, the mother, the ex-wife...(you get the idea) to end everything with a bang. As far as the story goes, it is a fitting ending. Musically, however...not so much. But given that the most contrived that album gets is twenty-five tracks into a twenty-six track record, I'll allow it. Most everything that proceeds the finale, with the exception of some poorly conceived vocal delivery, is pure prog rock goodness. And I love it.

"Dark Side of the Moon" and "Wish You Were Here" are still better, though. Four out of five.

Music You're Not Supposed To Hear

Yesterday on NPR, I heard a piece on something called The Impossible Music Sessions. It basically goes like this. A band in another country is imprisoned or threatened for playing, recording, or selling their music. Enter American band that wants to help. The American band will play a show for the oppressed musicians, Skyping the foreign band in to meet their fans. And by playing a show for, I mean they play all covers of the band being honored. The band featured in the piece was The Plastic Wave, an Iranian electronic rock band who is in and out of prison for playing their "western" music, which, by the way, is available for free download here. And it's not half bad. The singer is a bit pitchy sometimes, but if you can get past that, the results will be rewarding--rock and roll that actually embodies the old rebel spirit of rock 'n roll; music that is being created not for a profit, but for the love of the music itself. Even if the music wasn't as good as it was, I would still be a fan, just because of the idea of pure artisanship.

It got me thinking, though. If I lived in a country where I wasn't allowed to create the kind of music I do, would I still do it? I'd like to say I would, but I really don't know.

The full NPR story is here.