Song of the Day: September 8th

The Avalanches: "Frontier Psychiatrist" from Since I Left You
The Avalanches are collage artists, and "Frontier Psychiatrist" is their masterwork. All their songs seamlessly blend together different samples from countless different sources, most of which no one has ever heard of, which separates them from most other sample happy party artists. This song however, is a different creature than any of their other songs, the music aspect is much like their other songs; sampled beats, strings, horns, and guitars form the background to an insane string of couple word spoken samples so you get a wacko lines like "he was white as a sheet" read by what sounds like some children's book author followed by "and also made false teeth" by some 50s actor. It's just and insane collage of wacky audio samples stuck together perfectly into a coherent song. Throw in horse noises and gunshots and an amazing vinyl scratch breakdown of bird and parrot noises and you've got the craziest sample based song ever. And also the best.
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Song of the Day: September 7th

Animal Collective: "The Purple Bottle" from Feels
"The Purple Bottle" is a love song. And since it's written and performed by Animal Collective, it's a love song quite unlike any other. The interesting thing about the song is just how genuine it is, there's real happiness and joy in this song. From the gigglish "do da do do do do's" to lines like "I talk too much about you" and "I've got a big big big big heart beat, I think you're the sweetest thing" speak of a real love, but also a childlike love. Or perhaps I'm mistaking childlike love for a innocent love. A love not complicated by adult issues, but all about what love should be about: you and your love sharing life together.
Musically the band's style uses their signature rhythm driven sound with rapid click and thumping from the percussion with dreamy guitar bubbling over the top. The band again uses vocals as an instrument, with chanting and a closing vocal breakdown freakout. By that kind of stuff is to be expected with Animal Collective.
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Song of the Day: September 6th

Portishead: "Sour Times" from Dummy
This is a song that hard to forget, which is odd because it's so unassuming. A simple hip-hop beat, a creeping, and slight guitar are all that's really there musically, but perhaps the reason the song is so unforgettable is because of Beth Gibbons. Gibbons mirrors her band in that she, while a phenomenal vocalist, is somewhat unassuming, she doesn't stand out style or talent wise, but the emotion and inflection she puts in her delivery is out of this world. This especially, she really takes things to another level, when she sings "nobody loves me", it sounds like she's really feeling depressed, but then you hear the next verse "like you do" and she genuinely sounds in love. This song, for how simple it appears on the surface, is a complex experience to take in.
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Song of the Day: September 5th

The National: "You've Done it Again Virginia" from Lit Up
Matt Berninger has never been known as cheerful songwriter; he's made his living writing dark, self-deprecating songs about losers and lost loves but "You've Done it Again Virginia" is perhaps his saddest song. It tells of a real tragedy, not heartbreak, but something that really destroys you're life: hopelessness and alcoholism. As the title character Virginia tries to navigate the labyrinths of adult life and love she becomes increasingly desperate and lonely and more and more reliant one alcohol. After a failed date she goes home and consuls herself with drink; eventually her life devolves into nothing but stagnate lifelessness: "if you had another wish to wish, you'd be fun and moving" and blame and self-loathing: "Well you've done it again Virginia, made another masterpiece... how does it feel to be you?".
You may think that when your boyfriend or girlfriend says something mean to you, it's a tragedy, but it's important to have perspective about what real tragedy is and how it can destroy lives, and how important caring and love is. You never know what state someone may be in inside.
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Song of the Day: September 4th

Iron & Wine and Calexico: "16, Maybe Less" from In the Reins
Calexico and Sam Beam were made for each other; both excel in creating music that makes an unobtrusive background that meshes perfectly with the vocals, enhancing them instead of distracting from them. Calexico simply does this on a larger scale with a full band, while Beam does it with just a guitar. As a backing band here, Calexico create a murky country-folk soundscape that fits the songs references to trees and ponds perfectly. Twangy electric and acoustic slide mix with shimmering pedal steel flow over John Convertino's signature hollow drums seamlessly.
Lyrically, the song is one of Beam's best because it's one of the few times he drops his poetic, hyper-literate shtick and writes true human emotions in traditional, American folk song style. The song bleeds regret and nostalgia as Beam begins relating a story of first love, but then changes gears to the climax of the song... "I met my wife at a party when I drank too much, my son is married and tells me we don't talk enough, call it predictable, yesterday my dream was of you". In truly heartbreaking fashion, he contrasts the innocence of youth and the complex sadness of adulthood. The message is this: love is simple and joyful as a child, complex and painful as an adult.
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Best albums of 2009 (so far...)

20. Clark: Totems Flare
19. Woods: Songs of Shame
18. The Pains of Being Pure of Heart
17. Patrick Wolf: The Bachelor
16. The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love
15. The XX: XX
14. Dinosaur Jr: Farm
13. Wild Beasts: Two Dancers
12. Bibio: Ambivalence Avenue
11. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
10. The Antlers: Hospice
09. Circulatory System: Signal Morning
08. Yo La Tengo: Popular Songs
07. Mos Def: The Ecstatic
06. Annie: Don't Stop
05. Fever Ray
04. Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career
03. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It's Blitz!
02. Mew: No More Stories...
01. The Twilight Sad: Forget the Night Ahead

Click here for brief write ups.

Best albums of 2008

click the link: Best albums of 2008