My Top 20 Albums of 2012 (#10 - 6)

#10-6

10.  Jack White - Blunderbuss - (Columbia / Third Man)
The first true solo album from the former White Stripes leader, this collection of songs expresses a variety of Jack White's moods, influences and skills. Lead single, "Sixteen Saltines" shows White in familiar territory, with a crushing wail of guitar and herky-jerky vocals.  "Freedom at 21" shines with White seemingly choking new sounds out of his guitar, while "Love Interruption" lifts half of the intro to "Son of a Preacher Man" as he strangely pleads for "love to change his friends to enemies".  A cover of the Rudy Toombs penned classic, "I'm Shakin'", swings in White's capable hands, and be on earworm alert for the hooks of "Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy".  Blunderbuss is a fine collection of White's tunes that'll find it's way into your CD player or onto your turntable more than you think.  (You know, assuming you still buy the physical product).

9. Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory - (Carpark)
The very first listen to opener "No Future / No Past", its slow build starting with piano / guitar, the bass and drums coming in to percolate the boil while Dylan Baldi's vocals intensify, you'll know you're listening to a band on the verge of a huge breakthrough. The song finally explodes into the chorus after three and a half minutes before launching into the nearly nine minute second track "Wasted Days", a game changing, energetic wall of sound.  Released early in the year, it's not an album that fades from memory, instead growing on you with each passing listen. "Fall In" represents as much of a single as you'll find here, starting with a chorus that would sound right at home on a Green Day record, with "Stay Useless" following a similar pattern. "Our Plans" finds a Sunny Day Real Estate-meets-Nirvana vibe, but not in the way it has been misused by so many before them. Attack On Memory is a quick and tight 33 minute jaunt, never losing focus and creating one of the best hard-rock albums of the year.

8. Beach House - Bloom - (Sub Pop / Bella Union)
There's a certain cool haze that takes over while listening to Beach House. Sometimes difficult to pinpoint, Bloom could easily be written off as background music for random web-surfing sessions, but to not listen closely would be a tragedy. Their signing with Sub Pop seems almost surreal when thinking about the bands who were building this label from the ground floor some 24-25 years ago. The vast layers of organ droning, winding guitars mixed with the gorgeous voice of Victoria Legrand infuse their way into your subconscious. Suddenly, where you thought you weren't listening, the ten songs contained here were working their way into your brain. "Myth" and "Lazuli" highlight the quirky nature of side one, while "Other People" and "The Hours" show a more straightforward, poppy aspect. "Troublemaker" starts the second half off on a strong note while "New Year" builds off of a rather Beach Boys harmonies intro. Album finale "Irene" begins awash a haze of white noise and slowly builds to a magnificent finish about six and a half minutes in, until a hidden track fades in after about six and a half minutes of silence, lilting back in and fading out once again, as though it were part of a dream hazily returning in the middle of a night's slumber.  It may take a few listens for Bloom to reveal itself to you, but that only makes its title all the more appropriate. 

7. Dinosaur Jr - I Bet On Sky - (Jagjaguwar)

Reunion album #3, I Bet On Sky, seems to reintroduce a bit of Mascis' Green Mind (1991) sound, but expands on it. Opening track, "Don't Pretend You Didn't Know" finds J Mascis soloing out of the song over piano/bass. Acoustic guitars wind their way into "Almost Fare" providing the background for J's muted distorted chugging.  "Stick a Toe In" brings the energy down even further with J singing over lightly strummed chords. "Rode" finds Barlow revving the album back up to speed before giving way to the wah-pedal of "I Know It Oh So Well". Six and a half minute finale, "See It On Your Side", starts with Mascis soloing, but reveals different layers as it twists and turns with Mascis filling in the gaps between verses with fills that seemingly get better with each break, culminating in an even better solo before the final refrain -- the only way to end a Dinosaur Jr record.

6. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp - (Jagjaguwar)

One of the first albums that I truly fell in love with this year, Tramp shows off the street-worn voice and tales of Sharon Van Etten wrapped under the beautiful production of Aaron Dessner of The National. "Give Out" with its doubled vocal lines (You're the reason why I'll move to the city / Or why I'll need to leave) tugs at the heartstrings of anyone who's felt the ultimate highs and lows of a relationship. Van Etten manages to convey that she's going to be OK throughout the 46 minute running time of a devastatingly personal collection of songs. Everything here is marvelously played, layered and nearly trembling under a fragile shelf of emotions.  "All I Can" with its closing stanza (I do all I can / We all make mistakes) shows that this is not an album of Fiona Apple-esque finger pointing, that there is always enough blame to go around. But Van Etten's loneliness sinks in and hits home on closer "Joke Or A Lie" (Let us escape for a night / Breathe the silence / I am alone / But I am alone in this room with you). Contrary to the lyrics I've chosen to quote here, this is not a simple heart-torn woman with an acoustic guitar record, it's a far greater accomplishment, perhaps career making for the Brooklyn by Tennessee by New Jersey artist. 

My Top 20 Albums of 2012 (#20 - 11)

2012 was a year that saw comebacks and releases by a myriad of artists who long ago moved into the 'Classic Rock' racks of your local independent record dealer. Meanwhile, new artists and many putting out their sophomore efforts provided strong competition for the veterans.  After the final rating and ranking session, this is how my Top 20 worked out for last year.

#20-11

20. Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror - (Mom & Pop)
The sophomore effort from the Brooklyn-based duo doesn't quite raise the stakes of 2010's Treats as much as it adds focus to their energetic squalls of distorted guitars and power vocals. There's more variety here with songs like "End of the Line" and "You Lost Me" providing nuance between the crush of tracks like "Born to Lose", "Comeback Kid" and "Demons". 

19. Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball - (Columbia)
One of the Boss' better records with The E Street Band since The River (1980), you're probably already familiar with a good handful of the music here with Major League Baseball grabbing "Land of Hope and Dreams" as a theme song for the 2012 season, while others came to prominence during the Hurricane Sandy recovery here in the Northeast. Bruce seems to be having fun, reaching into his bag of tricks to visit many of his influences with varying degrees of success throughout the eleven songs contained here. An immediately gratifying album that seems to reveal all of its tricks at once. Not one that I found myself revisiting as often as I thought I'd might throughout 2012.  A perfectly good album caught up in the circumstances of 2012. 

18. Soundgarden - King Animal - (Republic / Seven Four)
16 years after the release of Down on the Upside (1996), the Seattle quartet finds themselves at the head of the "reunion pack of 2012". Although Soundgarden activities have been ongoing since their announced reunion in 2010, this is the first new material released by the reformed band. "Been Away Too Long" and "Non-State Actor" jump out of the gate and provide evidence that the band has hardly missed a step in a decade and a half, picking up right where they left off. Kim Thayil's wall of guitar sound is an immediate and welcome reminder of how much this band has been missed. The Thayil collaborations with vocalist/guitarist Chris Cornell have always provided the band's strongest material -- so it's not a surprise that has continued here on King Animal. A trip back to the 90s that you won't regret taking.

17. Islands - A Sleep & a Forgetting - (Anti-)
Never what you expect, releases from Islands over the past decade have ranged from the Carribean-tinged pop of Return to the Sea (2006) to the inexplicable prog-rock misstep of Arm's Way's (2008). Nick Thorburn returned in 2012 with a more straightforward, yet lyrically, highly personal effort. "No Crying" finds Thorburn crooning in an early-60s doo-wop style, while "Can't Feel My Face" finds itself shuffling into a mid-60s Brit-pop.  A Sleep & a Forgetting was a sleeper (no pun intended), released early in the year without much fanfare and likely forgotten about by the time "List Season" rolled around -- it deserves a revisit. 

16. Swearin' - Swearin' - (Salinas)
Despite their silly name, Swearin's debut album was a rather unexpected treat this year. After hearing their outstanding lead track, "Here to Hear", I took a chance and downloaded it from Amazon (the only place I was able to find it -- it might have been on iTunes, but I don't normally shop there).  Running the gamut from jangly guitars to flat out power chords, the 27 minute length of this debut flies by. "Kenosha" finds a Sleater-Kinney sort of groove, "Crashing" and "Kill 'em With Kindness" blister their way through their minute and a half running lengths. "Movie Star" closes out the record in Weezer-esque fashion, but in a good way. Looking forward to see if this band has anything else up their sleeve.

15. Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania - (Caroline / EMI / Martha's)
Like most of you, I sadly left Billy Corgan behind. An integral part of my 1990s, Billy wanted us to entertain his every whim, when all we really ever wanted was for him to keep SP together in its original form and rock our asses off. Unfortunately, the keyboard oriented Adore (1998) led to the dreadful Machina/The Machines of God (2000) and the inevitable break-up. But Billy still had plenty more disappointing to do. Zwan, featuring a reunited Corgan and Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin released Mary Star of the Sea (2003) to little fanfare, but plenty of sniping with his former Pumpkins mates, James Iha and D'arcy Wretzky. Putting the Smashing Pumpkins name to the test, Billy and Jimmy once again recorded under the SP moniker, releasing the even more dreadful Zeitgeist (2007) and an uninspired solo album mixed somewhere in there. Billy retreated to the studio with plans of recording a 44 song epic entitled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, releasing it in multiple phases, one of which appears to include the 13 song Oceania.  Although Corgan is now working with hired guns as his Pumpkins side-kicks, it has inspired him to write the best music he has released since the mid-90s.  Some of it will ring familiar with nods to "Disarm" and "Tonight, Tonight", and there are some missteps along the way ("One Diamond, One Heart"), but songs like opener "Quasar", "The Celestials" and the absolutely gorgeous "Violet Rays" will remind you why you were a fan of Corgan's in the first place. Welcome back, Billy. 

14. The xx - Coexist - (Young Turks)

One of the better 1-2 punches in music this year is found on Coexist with "Angels" and "Chained", not because they are great songs (they are), but because it immediately reaffirms that co-leaders Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim found the maturity to stick to the sound they so beautifully developed on their self-titled debut (2009) . This is bedroom music. A late night headphone affair with sparse, singular guitar lines, warm bass lines, triad chords on a keyboard and two voices that create a tension that belie the band's years. This is another huge step forward for a band who will likely need to change things up their next time out. Their first two records, however, should find their way into your library. Truly haunting music. 

13. Spiritualized - Sweet Heart Sweet Light - (Fat Possum)
An undertaking as big as their 1997 epic Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space didn't seem to be in the cards for Jason Pierce, but he willed himself through two years of recording, inspired by shows in which the band performed LaGWAFIS in its entirety. It's an album that demands repeated listens in order to begin to hear the multitude of layers, rewarding and revealing itself with each spin. It's poppy, melodic, haunting, noisy, symphonic and occasionally frustrating. It's everything you'd want in an album suited for listening at home. 

12. Japandroids - Celebration Rock - (Polyvinyl)
With an eyebrow-raising title like Celebration Rock, you're seemingly opening yourself up to the fury of the hound-like music blogging community. But Brian King (guitar, vocals) and David Prowse (drums, vocals) dare you to judge them while "yell(ing) like hell to the heavens" on opener "The Nights of Wine and Roses". Eight songs, 35 minutes and you'll be joining the celebration upon first listen. Aggressive and uncompromising, this duo from Vancouver, BC ratchets up the noise and general rock-and-roll fun-time, attacking with amps at eleven, thunderous drums and screaming sing-along choruses like in "Evil's Sway" (Oh year / All right / On the last and lashing out / It's evil's sway tonight). "The House That Heaven Built" gallops forward, starting and stopping along the way as King screams for his life. Skillfully timed out so as not to overstay its welcome -- this is a record that made its way onto many 'Best Of 2012' lists, and rightfully so.  

11. Shearwater - Animal Joy - (Sub Pop)

Talk Talk comparisons will likely always follow Shearwater as Jonathan Meiburg's larger-than-life vocals emphasize the dramatic twists and turns of the band's musical canvas. Opener "Animal Life" goes right for the sky, soaring for the heavens with Meiburg as our guide. The six and a half minute "Insolence" creeps along at the beginning, daring you to follow, offering glimpses into the destination as it explodes into the chorus, only to fall back into its steady march. Things change up throughout offering a highly satisfying listen. Highly recommended for fans of some of the more introspective pop/rock of the 80s. 

My Bloody Valentine - mbv - (self-released; 2013)

My Bloody Valentine - mbv - (self-released; 2013)

By Charlie Woodley; February 10th, 2013

Rating: 7.5










Donna: "I think that record is warped or something."

Me: "No, it isn't, it's supposed to sound that way."

Donna: "It sounds warped."

Me:  *sigh*

Four Bens & A Brian - The Five Most Disappointing Albums of 2012

By Charlie Woodley; February 3rd, 2013

Most years, I would call my bottom five albums of the year the "Worst" albums of the year, but this year I would rather call them the "Five Most Disappointing Albums of 2012".  The albums below are all from artists whose work I usually admire, but in this case, I feel that they've lost their way with their releases from this year.

Strangely and randomly, the leaders of four of these projects were named "Ben". I'm not sure what that means -- but weren't there other "Bens" who were either disappointed or were disappointing in 2012.  Ben Roethlisberger, Ben Affleck, Ben Stein, Ben Sheets...?

Without further ado -- here are my "Five Most Disappointing Albums of 2012"  (in order of least to most disappointing):

5. Silversun Pickups - Neck of the Woods - (Dangerbird) 

The one Brian on the list.  An album filled with mid-tempo snorers that become more tedious as the album drones on. It just feels rather lazy after the rather ambitious Swoon (2009).  The pressure will be on SP with their next release. 

4. Ben Kweller - Go Fly A Kite - (The Noise Company)

Unique origami packaging and songbook guitar tabs included with the album couldn't save this jumbled mess for Kweller. While there are some rather pleasing efforts like opening rocker 'Mean To Me', the Beatle-esque 'Gossip' and 'I Miss You', the album is dragged down by tepid pop songs like 'Full Circle' and the extremely annoying 'Jealous Girl' (complete with a chorus refrain lifted from Rick Springfield). 

3.  Benjamin Gibbard - Former Lives - (Barsuk)

Former Lives is a perfectly listenable record made up of songs that Gibbard wrote over the course of the past decade or so. The problem here is that one song is more cloying than the next. Gibbard's main project, Death Cab for Cutie, released the experimental Codes and Keys in 2011 to mixed reviews. I found it to be rather underrated and certainly worth a second look. Former Lives, however, feels like a collection of Death Cab rejects. Possibly even songs that Ben wrote and felt no need to present to the rest of his Death Cab mates. The stretch in this album beginning with 'Lily' running through 'A Hard One to Know' simply floats along as nothing more than background music you might use while paying your bills.  Nothing distracts, nothing stands out -- which is a deadly combination in an already ADD world. 

2. Band of Horses - Mirage Rock - (Columbia)

This one probably hurts me the most. At one time, Ben Bridwell led his Band of Horses into opening slots for My Morning Jacket and Pearl Jam, using a wall of guitars and a big room full of reverb. The jump to the big leagues of a major label after their Sub Pop swan-song Cease to Begin, has found BoH cleaning up their act and becoming nearly a Bridwell solo project.  Even more so than Wilco is now a Tweedy project. The results are a rather bland mesh of Americana, more suited to the strip-malls than the bar in the shady part of town. Things start off nicely enough with 'Knock, Knock' (a song that sadly grew on me after listening to the rest of this record) and 'How To Live', but quickly find their way into Fogelberg schmaltz on 'Slow Hands of Time'.  Things bottom out with 'Dumpster World' which begins a bit like America's 'Horse With No Name' until it thunders into a highly embarrassing and completely out of place chorus before ending back on the 'Horse'. The back half of the album is filled with rather forgettable songs in the same vein, with a brief respite for three minutes with the catchy 'Feud', perhaps the best song you'll find in this Bridwell vortex. 

1. Ben Folds Five - The Sound of The Life of The Mind - (ImaVeePee Records / Sony)

When you read the intro about the 'Bens', you had to know we were eventually going to wind up here. Things start off rather promising with the trio emphatically announcing their return with a huge Foldsian crash opening to 'Erase Me', but it quickly dissolves (along with your hopes that this record has even the faintest chance to recall the days of Whatever & Ever Amen, the trio's high-water mark). Throughout the course of the ten tracks here, you wait and you wait for that huge instrumental moment where they challenge themselves to better the breakdown in 'One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces' or the natural swing of 'Selfless, Cold and Composed' -- but it never arrives. More than anything, this simply comes off as three people who used to make music together that moved on with their lives long ago.  This is one reunion that was probably about six or seven years too late.