5. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
Contributed by The Audiophile
Anyone who has seen the documentary film "I Am Trying To Break Your Heart" understands the turmoils that Jeff Tweedy, as well as all of Wilco, underwent during the creation of 2001's groundbreaking record Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The turmoils reflected in the musicality of that record are but a mere remnant on Wilco's newest effort, Sky Blue Sky. Littered with the familiarity of phrases that reference love lost, love found, so on and so forth ("on and on and on/we'll be together, yeah"), Sky Blue Sky is a step back to pre-Ghost is Born Wilco. As opposed to the inverse formula for GiB and YHF, Sky Blue Sky is only one part experiment to three parts rock, including smooth, yet often drastic, transitions from song to song as well as from verse to chorus (see: "Shake it Off"). Not to mention the guitar solo in "Impossible Germany", which equates to nothing short of pure aural sex (pun 100% intended).
4. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
Whoa. Apparently, after releasing The Sunlandic Twins, frontman Kevin Barnes went batshit crazy. Not that that's a bad thing, as Hissing Fauna, one of Of Montreal's finest records to date, is utterly stellar. Ostensibly about Barnes' breakup with his wife and subsequent transformation from himself into his glam-rock alter-ego, Georgie Fruit (The change occurs during the epic 12 minute "The Past is a Grotesque Animal"), Barnes uses every trick, instrument, lyrical turn, and electronic tweak he can muster to chronicle his decent into depression, search for meaning, and transformation. With lyrics that no one else could come up with, let alone pull off ("Somehow you've red-rovered/The gestapo circling my heart"), and styles that haven't seen the light of day in some time (see the disco-funk-new wave-pop-rock "Gronlandic Edit", or the pure groove-funk of "Labrinthian Pomp"), Of Montreal has created a layered masterpiece that not only deserves but demands repeat listening.
3. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
The Field's debut album turned a lot of heads this year, and with good reason. After almost five and a half minutes of grooving along to the slowly building thump and the gradually expanding sonic textures of "A Paw in My Face," Axel Willner (aka The Field) releases his hold on the track, only to (staggeringly) reveal Lionel Ritchie's "Hello". Willner uses minimalism to explore and expand on every musical concept he advances, stretching it to the point where you might think "Hey, this is a little repetetive," and the moment you think that, BAM!, something changes. A modulation, the addition of another rhythm, or perhaps a one note sample of a woman's voice, looped and repeated, creating depth, and, to a point, melody. This is an astounding album, and "sublime" is definitely the word for it.
2. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
James Murphy just seems to be getting better with age. LCD Soundsystem's first album namechecked every important band of the last thirty years that you've never heard of ("Losing My Edge"), and took stylistic cues from most of the ones you have ("Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up," "Tribulations"). On this album, he ups the ante by adding more rock instrumentation (not that this is a rock album) and indeed, sounds like he's taking things a little more seriously (for a guy who used to make up the lyrics in the studio, this is kind of a big deal). From the pride he takes in being "North American Scum" to cherishing his friends ("All My Friends"), Murphy has produced one of the finest dance-rock albums to ever grace the scene.
1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
Radiohead is number one? How cliché , how tedious, I hear you cry. Well, fuck you. There were a lot of superb albums this year, but none of them can hold a candle to In Rainbows, the best album Radiohead has released since, well, the last one. The stutter-step beat of "15 Step", joined by Yorke's always entrancing warble as he queries "How come I end up where I started?/How come I end up where I went wrong?" grabs a hold of the listener and pulls them in. The very next track, "Bodysnatchers", has Yorke wailing about paranoia over some of the most straightforward rock Radiohead has produced in some time, carrying you into the beauty of the ballad "Nude". The gentle beat behind Yorke and the guitar effects gives the impression of vulnerability, and as the instruments gradually come in, Yorke's pained croon only becomes more desperate.
Like any great album, In Rainbows stretches the genre. There is no other band that does the things that Radiohead does. This album is an almost seamless amalgamation of everything that Radiohead has done before, from the minimalist sampling and instrumentation of "Nude" to the shades of "Karma Police" heard in the album closer "Videotape", to the screeching thump of "Bodysnatchers". And like every Radiohead album since The Bends, it does not disappoint.
4. Of Montreal - Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer
Whoa. Apparently, after releasing The Sunlandic Twins, frontman Kevin Barnes went batshit crazy. Not that that's a bad thing, as Hissing Fauna, one of Of Montreal's finest records to date, is utterly stellar. Ostensibly about Barnes' breakup with his wife and subsequent transformation from himself into his glam-rock alter-ego, Georgie Fruit (The change occurs during the epic 12 minute "The Past is a Grotesque Animal"), Barnes uses every trick, instrument, lyrical turn, and electronic tweak he can muster to chronicle his decent into depression, search for meaning, and transformation. With lyrics that no one else could come up with, let alone pull off ("Somehow you've red-rovered/The gestapo circling my heart"), and styles that haven't seen the light of day in some time (see the disco-funk-new wave-pop-rock "Gronlandic Edit", or the pure groove-funk of "Labrinthian Pomp"), Of Montreal has created a layered masterpiece that not only deserves but demands repeat listening.
3. The Field - From Here We Go Sublime
The Field's debut album turned a lot of heads this year, and with good reason. After almost five and a half minutes of grooving along to the slowly building thump and the gradually expanding sonic textures of "A Paw in My Face," Axel Willner (aka The Field) releases his hold on the track, only to (staggeringly) reveal Lionel Ritchie's "Hello". Willner uses minimalism to explore and expand on every musical concept he advances, stretching it to the point where you might think "Hey, this is a little repetetive," and the moment you think that, BAM!, something changes. A modulation, the addition of another rhythm, or perhaps a one note sample of a woman's voice, looped and repeated, creating depth, and, to a point, melody. This is an astounding album, and "sublime" is definitely the word for it.
2. LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver
James Murphy just seems to be getting better with age. LCD Soundsystem's first album namechecked every important band of the last thirty years that you've never heard of ("Losing My Edge"), and took stylistic cues from most of the ones you have ("Never As Tired As When I'm Waking Up," "Tribulations"). On this album, he ups the ante by adding more rock instrumentation (not that this is a rock album) and indeed, sounds like he's taking things a little more seriously (for a guy who used to make up the lyrics in the studio, this is kind of a big deal). From the pride he takes in being "North American Scum" to cherishing his friends ("All My Friends"), Murphy has produced one of the finest dance-rock albums to ever grace the scene.
1. Radiohead - In Rainbows
Radiohead is number one? How cliché , how tedious, I hear you cry. Well, fuck you. There were a lot of superb albums this year, but none of them can hold a candle to In Rainbows, the best album Radiohead has released since, well, the last one. The stutter-step beat of "15 Step", joined by Yorke's always entrancing warble as he queries "How come I end up where I started?/How come I end up where I went wrong?" grabs a hold of the listener and pulls them in. The very next track, "Bodysnatchers", has Yorke wailing about paranoia over some of the most straightforward rock Radiohead has produced in some time, carrying you into the beauty of the ballad "Nude". The gentle beat behind Yorke and the guitar effects gives the impression of vulnerability, and as the instruments gradually come in, Yorke's pained croon only becomes more desperate.
Like any great album, In Rainbows stretches the genre. There is no other band that does the things that Radiohead does. This album is an almost seamless amalgamation of everything that Radiohead has done before, from the minimalist sampling and instrumentation of "Nude" to the shades of "Karma Police" heard in the album closer "Videotape", to the screeching thump of "Bodysnatchers". And like every Radiohead album since The Bends, it does not disappoint.
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