5. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Mature Themes (on 4AD records):
Wouldn't have said this back in August. Nor in September or October. Though I did listen to it during those months, and increasingly so, the damn guy's song writing just had a way to permeate my daily routine to the point where, even though I hadn't listened to it in weeks, "Is This the Best Spot?" would spring on me right out of the bright lit blue sky while doing anything at any time. Killing a Kit-Kat or an Arab, Mature Themes was growing on me. I started listening to it like crazy in the past month and had to put it at #5.
Reasons:
Before Today was an incredible avant-garde record, really. Even frat dudes were listening to a 5' 4" pink-haired eccentric who randomly makes out with dudes in the front row. It was THAT good. So Mature Themes, then. Whoooa, "not even as good". Right. Actually wrong. Better. The guy has gonads. He abandons the working formula in pursuit of a more cohesive effort. It's not a greatest hits like Before Today, it's a (mature) themed effort that explores the artist's life, lessons, and yearnings. He goes back to the days of his bedroom recording mind set yet uses some of his Round and Round money on the production. What a blend! Everyone wants to know the guy (really, act like you wouldn't feel real special to have the dude walk into your Christmas party), so here you go: an introspective, sweet hearted, bizarre, Count Chocula-sounding, and extremely well-written group of songs, dripping with color and catch. Play it again.
Personal Moment:
DJ Hotpants, Miami's art-scenester resident DJ blasting "Symphony of the Nymph" at the Art Miami/Context breezeway dance floor and me being the only person who knew the damn track. Really. I had to high five Hotpants for keeping on. Had it been Round and Round, that would have been sucks. PBRs would have instantly materialized in the hands of day-glow wearing ball-bags.
Oh and one more thing, Donnie and Joe Emerson? Cover magic, we owe you, Haunted Graffiti. The silkiest tune of the year and exposed to most by Ariel Pink.
4. Lower Dens - Nootropics (on Ribbon Music records):
Jana Hunter's voice is evocative to say the least. The bands prowess supports this in an appropriate way, adding to the lushness of her vocals, pushing it up through a swirl of fine guitar, drum, and synthesizer work. As of late April when this baby came out, I knew it would be hard to beat, and very difficult to push out of my Top Five. At the time I first heard it, I thought to myself, "who's going to out do this in 2012?"
Jana Hunter, who was or is buddies or whatever with eccentric Devendra Banhart and carved out a few solos and joint efforts on the guy's record label has really come out of the bedroom and onto the stage and has brought an ambitious and experimentally minded group of musicians with her.
Reason:
Dark, pensive, sexually driven, yearning, secretive, warm, atmospheric, narrative, ethereal, and all in the right amounts. This album takes its time, it navigates slowly, then dives deep, flows like linen in the wind, then ascends confidently upward into a true sonic experience. The louder the better.
This album is its own. Coming from a folk background that is almost altogether ditched in favor of an art rock or krautrock approach, the sound is signature. You know what you're hearing and you're hearing the best effort out of some serious contenders this year, two others being from Baltimore as well: little monster Beach House's Bloom and Mega Giger Monster, Animal Collective, with Centipede Hz.
But we've heard those bands before, we're familiar with their sounds, and they're not stealing the thunder in this write up. Jana Hunter, who amidst other practicing female vocalists who BRING IT such as Zola Jesus, Natasha Kahn, and Katie Stelmanis seems to have something that sets her apart in a warmer, confident and unique way. Is there a Texan drawl in there that adds a phantom layer of "je ne sais quoi" in much the same way Phil Collin's Brit accent did? You didn't see that comparison coming but, but maybe that's just it, we're caught off guard. Listen to "Candy" and you may pick up what I'm laying down. Either way, I bet Siouxsie Sioux owns this album, and so should you.
Personal Moment:
I saw her play in Baltimore once in 2009 and expected the one-woman-show folk thing (not a problem) but what I got was an ambient sonic assault with a full band that would have made Bradford Cox like a girl. I didn't know it at the time, but that was Lower Dens before they were Lower Dens, when they were Jana and Friends or something. I thanked her, bought her a drink, and wrote about her three years later (right now).
3. Down - Down IV Part I, The Purple EP (on Down records):
Yeah, you know how to read. An EP as third best album of the year. The goal is that Down will do the other three EPs to complete the whole concept but after this behemoth, that's an undertaking. Pending Phil Anselmo can keep healthy and in control of his, eh, "hang ups", it may just happen because if anyone knows anything about this guy, he has a tiger's will and will impose it while kicking the living shit out of you.
Reason:
This album is a blend of original groove Pantera-brand metal (for those indie rock bitches of you out there who want to snicker because I'm talking about metal, stop reading now and go lay down in traffic) and deep sludge or doom from the late 70's (i.e. Witchfinder General or Sabbath) with the sweet ingredient of southern rock or [down] south hard rock a la Ozark Mountain Devils, fuckin' Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, etc. (list goes own and own). And, it's all done in a very straight forward, hard-hitting, almost minimalist way. It's not what you play, it's how you play it, SON. It's all you need right here in this EP, it satisfies the itch but the itch will come back and you'll have to scratch it with some increased volume.
Personal Moment:
Pantera was formative for me. They broke up, went through shit only brothers can feel. Damage Plan broke up because Dimebag was murdered on stage, a sign of the times. I'm fucking serious. SIGN OF THE TIMES. And while Hellyeah (Vinnie's effort) wants to be "all good drinkin' alright shit yeah dude" and Rex Brown left Down for his own thing (Kill Devil Hill with Vinnie Appice, which is very, very good but another story), Phil Anselmo has been there, done that, and 999/1000 would have hung up the hat long ago but the dude is still here and kicking more ars than ever in a cleaner and more mature way and that inspires me big time. "Inspiration", that old thing. Dust it off and get. shit. done. And play this album while you're doing it.
2. Witchcraft - Legend (on Nuclear Blast records)
I did just type that, Nuclear Blast. It's a record label, you'll notice I've been listing them because they do still have a purpose and some, having done it right with the correct bands, are still kicking but only after some serious reinvention to do so. With Nuclear Blast being around since 1987, it must feel incredible to a young band like Witchcraft to join the ranks of other NB legends such as... (fuggit, if you're reading this, you have the internet: http://en.wikipedia.
Enter Sweden's Witchcraft with Legend being their fourth full length release. With each album evolving noticeably further from a Black Sabbath tribute band to something wholly original, this album is truly excellent. It has an older school vibe, a rough recording with tons of modern elements, song writing techniques that take a progressive rock's approach, and lyrics that are insanely impactful and strong. I'm not going to quote lead man Magnus Pelander's lyrics but for a country such as Sweden where English is a second language (albeit compulsory) they are very potent. If all Americans had such a way with the English word, perhaps Egan-Jones wouldn't have had to downgrade our economy's rating to AA-.
Reason:
A versatile, intoxicating, nostalgic-feeling, and extremely well executed piece of neo-psychedelic organic doom rock that is just evil enough to enchant you into having to defend your religious beliefs.
Whereas most bands used to borrow influences from ten bands and make interesting records, bands of today borrow influences from two bands and make shitty records.
Witchcraft can be sited, by those who know their rock and or roll music history, to use the best of Sabbath, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Saint Vitus, Pentagram, you name it, with enough of their own twists and turns to make this whole album an experience of the quality that generations before us used to revel in. Nothing cliche here, just a highly venomous and intricate shredder from top to bottom.
Personal Moment:
After suggesting this to one of the staunchest metal heads on earth, he texts me a week later: "Fuck Witchcraft. Legend is the only thing I can listen to now." That's a thumbs waaaaay up.
"The shining light of the gods is made out of nothing". Ok, didn't think I'd quote Pelander but, those words hurt, like I hope my ears will if these dudes ever come to the US to play live.
1. Swans - The Seer (on Young God records)
As one of my favorite painters Daniel Hesidence won't talk about his paintings, at all, whatsoever, I'm taking that artistic license to not explain this album to you, at all, whatsoever.
Reason:
It's #1, that's why. You do the listening, you do the research, you do the interpretation.
Personal moment:
Driving 11 hours straight during the day from Sierra Blanca, TX to San Antonio, US-10, by myself, with over $110k worth of contemporary art in a Mercedes Sprinter van. I also had this album with me. I played it, and nothing else could have elevated the experience more. Ya know about God, boy? HUH?!
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