01 Fennesz – Black Sea
I’ve become content with this process: Christian Fennesz plays a handful of random shows in Europe and contributes to a few underwhelming collaborations. Then, every four years, he convenes his solo recordings under his surname to release an album that sounds better than most everything else since his last. ‘Endless Summer’ and ‘Venice’ captured Fennesz perfectly entwining static-etched experimentalism with strands of classic pop music, but the remarkable achievement that is ‘Black Sea’ finds Fennesz on a more expansive canvas of symphonic proportions. The album, more than any of its predecessors, flickers with unvarnished acoustic guitar notes, walls of pixilated distortion, and a heightened sense of long-form minimalism. But the key, like his entire wondrous discography, lies in the balance struck between his instruments, the ability to sculpt gorgeous music from heaps of digitally-induced noise and acoustic debris, and the equilibrium found within the circuits of his laptop.
This balance is embedded in each track, but more so with the album as a whole as ‘Black Sea’ plays like a single piece of music segregated into eight movements. Throughout its fifty-two minute duration the music undergoes a vivid process of dissolving, corroding, and elegantly disintegrating only to reappear revived, harmonious, and entirely whole a moment later. And it’s no mere coincidence that’s how I feel as ‘Black Sea’ drifts to a close as well.
02 Times New Viking – Rip It Off
Until December ‘Rip It Off’ was at the forefront of this list. While some heard noise and nonsense, I found Times New Viking to revitalize pop music itself. Throughout ‘Rip It Off,’ the trio documents the various forms in which melody can bleed into noise, how they scratch up against each other in unexpected ways and, in turn, make both signifiers of their music sound utterly rejuvenated. The girl group-minded melodies remain surprisingly buoyant, floating amidst the debris of crashing cymbals and overdriven fuzz. It’s damaged, errant music, but somehow sounds all the better for it – the feedback crests just right as ‘My Head’ reaches its apex, the wash of tape hiss further dramatizes the startlingly catchy ‘Drop Out.’ I could go on; each song is nearly perfect in its own battered lo-fi shell. But it’s probably more important to say that ‘Rip It Off’ at once reminds me of the first time my ears encountered the unbridled rush of the Stooges as well as my introduction to the warped pop of the Breeders, the Crystals, and the Fall, while sounding wholly their own and absolutely nothing like any of these bands.
03 Kurt Vile – Constant Hitmaker
One of the distinctive feelings that only music elicits from me is that giddy reaction when I discover pure gold by accident – maybe it’s a random phrase from one of the many reviews I pour over every day or an odd sound sample I hear. I honestly can’t remember where I stumbled upon Kurt Vile’s name (which is indeed real), but that moment lies near the top of musical triumphs this year. His songs are bent and twisted into various forms, each documenting how texture and melody can get caught up in folk-derived psych experiments in order to fall together as nearly perfect pop songs. This man created some of the most memorable music of the past twelve months and no one seems to know it. But I have a feeling that will change, and not just because this record more than lives up to its title.
04 Sic Alps – US E.Z.
05 Department of Eagles – In Ear Park
Expecting a mere stopgap on the way to Grizzly Bear’s forthcoming ‘Veckatimest,’ ‘In Ear Park’ floored me upon first listen and continued to do so with each ensuing play. Department of Eagles play pop songs with the depth of an orchestra and the adventurous spirit of avant-garde-ists. The tracks frequently take unexpected turns and lovely detours on their way to becoming nearly flawless leftfield pop songs full of influence from Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, and other surreal and eccentric figures. As if they needed any more pressure for their ensuing release, Grizzly Bear now have unfortunate duty of outdoing ‘In Ear Park’ – no small task and one that few songwriters would be up for.
06 Koen Holtkamp – Field Rituals
Tangled acoustic notes, snippets of field recordings, and long exposures of digital ambience make up most of Field Rituals, all melded into an impressive whole. None of this came as a surprise since Holtkamp’s duo Mountains have created some of the best drone records I have yet to hear. Yet Field Rituals still affected me in a profound way – its music approximates photography, slowly revealing minute details and a distinct perspective that only becomes clear after a long submersion. Which may seem slow and boring to some, but ‘Field Rituals’ feels as welcoming as pop music’s best, with a warm, inviting sound where each passing second is as enrapturing as the last – and also the next – until it unfortunately ends three sides later.
07 Wavves – Wavves
It’s a bit disturbing to me, on an elemental level, how an individual – say, Nathan Williams – can go from not recording any music at all to a rather alarming backlash to that very music in a mere twelve months. I blame the internet. But, whatever the cause, I’m simply happy ‘Wavves’ exists: Williams’ untainted pop sensibilities are run through a haze of trebly guitars, exuberant vocal harmonies, and the rush of a feedback-strewn four-track while sturdy Hal Blaine-inspired drum work gives the album a thick backbone to stand upon. More than a few melodies and memorable moments rise to the top of these highly caffeinated songs, but the overall impact is more in the atmosphere of the album itself: California, space, love, teenage, and beach all come to mind. Fittingly, they also exist as song titles.
08 The Tallest Man on Earth – Shallow Grave
This is one release that certainly took me by surprise (or as Erin keeps saying, “I can’t believe you like this”). In most situations, I’m bored before I finish reading the word “folk” to describe a given piece of music, but, conversely, that’s just one of the many reasons the medium is so astounding to me: you never know what chord music will strike within you or how it will do it. And ‘Shallow Grave’ certainly hits the right one. There is not much that tethers ‘Shallow Grave’ together – really just a guitar, banjo, and a voice that makes each uttered word sound new and unfounded – but it’s something that hits me in the gut and makes me realize I should stop trying to figure it out.
09 Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
10 Zoo Animal – Young Blood
I’m rarely at live shows anymore, especially for local bands. Seeing Zoo Animal last autumn made me realize I may be depriving myself of many unexpected pleasures. ‘Young Blood’ is about as spare as rock albums can be – simply guitar, bass, drums – but it ends up approximating recent Sonic Youth with their tight structures and warped melodics. But what really warrants inclusion this high on the list is Holly Hansen’s vocal delivery that is at once intimate, off-kilter, cool, warbled, and confident. She has the natural ability to take what should sound awkward and incomplete and fit perfectly within the parameters of her songs, lyrics that should spill over the track in clumsy torrents sift into the cracks of ‘Young Blood’ and sit like diamonds.
