M. Ward – Transfiguration of Vincent
M. Ward has found some mainstream fame from his improbable pairing with Zooey Deschanel in She and Him. It’s not something you would expect listening to Transfiguration of Vincent, which was my first exposure to the gruffy-voiced singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon.
Check out the mind-blowingly “Involuntary.” The end of the world sigh in “A Voice At The End Of The Line.” Or the magnificent David Bowie cover “Let’s Dance.” Genius.
R.I.Y.L. Grandaddy, Iron & Wine, Devendra Banhart
Hefner – The Fidelity Wars
When I first I listened to Hefner, I thought the vocals were annoying. I never thought I would get past the sound of someone whining. Then I heard the lyrics. Here’s a sampling:
“She smoked on my bed cause she thought it would annoy me–but I love to watch the girls smoke in my bed.”
“Can’t feel disappointed when her hips are that wide but I still feel lonely and screwed up inside. And the taste of her tongue, it makes me wish I’d given up smoking.”
“We will always feel this way, faintly optimistic,
But we will speak the truth and we will never lose,
Oh the feeling that our hearts could be unbroken.”
Okay, perhaps the last in retrospect sounds a bit mushy, but the delivery makes it work. It’s from “Don’t Flake Out On Me,” where Darren Heyman alternates singing duties with guest singer Gina Birch (The Raincoats), before coming together for a reconcilation during the chorus.
Give the vocals a chance if at first they bother you. It was the same way with me when I first heard Pavement. Later I would realise that I wouldn’t have it any other way. The songs are great in that they carry a narrative, much like Pulp, before crescending into an anthemic rousing almost-singalong end, again, much like Pulp. (I should mention that they sound nothing like Pulp.)
Hefner is no more, by the way. Championed by the late John Peel but, still, no commercial success. One of those bands that made me think: If they can’t make it, what hope do I have with my music?
R.I.Y.L. Magnetic Fields, Pulp, Belle & Sebastian
Lali Puna – Tridecoder
Never quite got the (horribly named) Intelligent Dance Music genre until this album came along. Granted, Tridecoder isn’t really IDM, but it made me see the beauty of glitches and bleeps in music. Perhaps it’s because of its twee leanings that made it accessible. A friend of mine called this tweetronica. (I’m glad that description never caught on.)
Lali Puna started as a solo project by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Valerie Trebeljahr, and soon grew to include other musicians: most notably, long-standing partner Markus Acher (of The Notwist).
It’s a remarkably varied album, songcraft-wise. It’s not predictable, but neither is it difficult. It explores new sounds, new ways of expressing, but never at the expense of losing its connection with the listener. In fact, it’s probably just good pop.
It’s hard to pick a favourite track with this one, but do give “Everywhere & Allover” a listen. Pay special attention to the drums and how it changes in phases through the song. It never takes you back to the same place.
R.I.Y.L. The Notwist, Múm, Boards of Canada
Note: It had been reported that Jonny Greenword (of Radiohead) liked this album so much he owned four copies, and gave all four away. A glowing endorsement of the band, I’m sure. Until you wonder, why didn’t he save a copy for himself?
Sound Team – Monster Music
For some reason, when I first listened to this album, I was under the impression that Sound Team was some kind of a supergroup, a collection of established musicians from other bands. Well, I just did a check on Wikipedia, and it turns out that I was wrong. They are simply a band from Austin, Texas–and had already broken up last year. (Their label dropped them shortly after the release of this album, which was their debut.) It’s even more impressive that they aren’t a supergroup, because Monster Music is an incredibly mature effort. Their sound is not derivative, although you could tell that the band’s influences run deep.
You know how when you were younger there was that one song that just sounds so good you have to turn it up as loud as possible? And however loud you played, it just wasn’t loud enough because it keeps getting better? It happened again for me with “Born To Please.”
R.I.Y.L. Spoon, Lampchop, Ed Harcourt
Black Box Recorder – England Made Me
The album cover is a photograph of 1970’s glam-wrestler Adrian Street, posing in a very real coal mine, next to his very real coal miner father. It’s the breakdown of traditional values mixed with absolute defiance. It’s also the startling debut album of Black Box Recorder, created by Luke Haines (of The Auteurs) and John Moore (formerly drummer with The Jesus and Mary Chain).
Themes of decay, resignation and despair, which run through the album, somehow become tales of triumph, thanks to the restrained vocals of Sarah Nixey. The confidence in which she sings “Life is unfair. Kill yourself or get over it” in “Child Psychology” makes a dour sentiment sound uplifting.
A simple cover of “Seasons in the Sun” offers a new perspective: “Goodbye papa, please pray for me, I was the black sheep of the family,” when sung by Nixey, becomes a plea for forgiveness for something darker.
It’s not just her vocals that make this album work. It’s also the brutal economy of instrumentation. There is no mere strumming of guitar chords. Every note you hear on the album is deliberate. The space between sounds creates a chilling atmosphere, making the music sound that much more brittle and fragile. As if beneath the sheer defiance, lies a heart that is still easily broken.
R.I.Y.L. Portishead, Julee Cruise, Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton
Black Box Recorder – England Made Me
Useless Fact: Their far inferior second album produced their only radio hit, Facts of Life, which climbed up the U.K. charts to a dizzying #37.
Herman Düne – Not On Top
“I feel a little strange. Feels like I’ll never get my shit together. 27 and I’m fucked. Well it’s ten years from teenage and that’s a freaking lot.”
That’s how the titular track “Not On Top” begins. I think I was already thirty-one when I listened to that. There is a sense of aimlessness, but also a realisation and joy of not being on top.
I first heard the track in a monthly compilation from the excellent music blog The Catbirdseat. I thought he sounded great, googled his name and found that he was really a band of three Herman Düne’s. More confusingly, this American folk band were French, often confused to be from Sweden and that they are sort of Israeli.
They sound loosey goosey and dance loosey goosey. I’ve attached a link to a music video so you can watch.
R.I.Y.L. Silver Jews, Folk Implosion, Jonathan Richman
Wir sind Helden – Von Hier an Blind
Can the Germans ever do indie pop? Yes, they can! Although technically not underrated (this album stayed in the top ten for twenty weeks in Germany and Austria), Wir sind Helden remains largely unknown in the English speaking world. There is no reason why they shouldn’t be more popular. They may sing only in German but the tunes are universal. This is power pop at its best.
I like all of the album, but the best track has got to be to be track seven.* I do dare you not to like it.
R.I.Y.L. Stephen Duffy, Cinerama, Young Marble Giants
Wir sind Helden – Von Hier an Blind
* I have observed that the best song on any album is often Track No. 7. I have no idea why this is so. Do a cursory check on your music collection. More often than not, it would indeed be Track No. 7. One theory is that in the days of vinyl, Track No. 7 would be the first song on the B-side. This, however, still doesn’t fully explain the phenomenon. Why have the best song be the first song on the flip-side? Do bands even know what their best songs are?
ERROR: Embarrassingly, I had uploaded an incomplete album. The best song on the album, “Nur Ein Wort,” which I had referred to as Track No. 7 is now Track No. 11. The link has been refreshed to lead to the full album.
Silver Sun – Silver Sun
The first time I heard Silver Sun–this was back in 1997–I couldn’t believe how perfect they sounded. They were exactly what I tried to achieve but couldn’t. I remember telling my then-guitarist that if I were to start another band, I would model it after this: strong vocal harmonies over melodic distorted guitar chords.
If you like power pop, it’s a good bet you’d like this. The band’s subsequent albums got more produced and lost a lot of its youthful energy. One of the many bands that peaked on its first album.
R.I.Y.L. Phantom Planet, Beach Boys, Sparks
R.I.Y.L. MUSIC 
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