Lavinia - There is Light Between Us

Don’t let the Roman goddess name fool you into thinking this mini album has much in common with ancient lore. Depressive and bright at the corners, the debut EP from Boston four-piece Lavinia wears its heart and its influences on its sleeve. Guitarist/vocalist Nate Shumaker (formerly of Eksi Ekso) sings in a style much similar to the darker evolutions of the late 1990’s pop metal vocalists (think Cold or Staind without the abrupt screams of angst), and aches himself into lyrics of loss and heartbreak. The music combines elements of that 90’s era with flights of post-rock and post-metal. The influence-worship comes into full effect on “Fires”, sporting that unmistakable, liquid, reverberating bass that often defined the ISIS sound. Lavinia breaks free a little toward the end of the EP, where banjo and slide take predominant roles, but even here it reminds the ear of Red Sparowes. Closer “Bone & Arrow” presents the biggest ray of hope, both in atmospheric quality and in originality. Here Shumaker’s vocals are seldom, often leaving the banjo and slide to carry the voice duties. The blistering wall of tremolos reinforces that this band features members of Eksi Ekso, Caspian and a few other Boston post rock acts. The song goes beyond these parts, however, offering the most diverse array of internal dynamics on the EP. It’s a decent effort overall, and while the EP sounds great, and I want to root for the band, I cannot help but think that this release is going to fade away under the sheen of Lavinia’s future output. There Is Light Between Us feels more like an ode to the last decade in rock music, and is more of a stepping stone for a developing band than anything memorable.

Video: Boom Bip - Last Walk Around Mirror Lake (Boards of Canada remix)

My 2-year old was so amazed by this video we had to watch it twice. The track is from a Boom Bip remix album, Corymb, which in my estimation, is still one of the best remix albums ever made. It's much better than the album Seed To Sun. It contains a few new Boom Bip originals,
as well as remixes from Boards of Canada, Four Tet, Clouddead, Mogwai, Venetian Snares, Lali Puna, and a couple Peel Sessions with the legendary John Peel. It's an impeccable set of songs that are greater than their sum when listened to all together. I never knew there was a video for this song. Boards are always putting amazing physical feats into their videos, so this makes sense. The video makes the song even more sublime.

Zach Hill - Face Tat

Face Tat is Zach Hill's gazillionth release, but second under his own name. I really want to meet the woman on the cover (but not when she's igniting explosives). I reviewed this album, and at first totally loathed it. As it grew on me, I realized that it changed me, elbowing itself into my conscious realm of acceptance.

Explaining one’s own work is masturbatory. In an interview about Face Tat, Zach Hill said, “Just like with any art form, you’re expressing something that can’t really be expressed in any other form. We all have something in us that needs some other platform to get out. Talking about it defeats the purpose of even doing it in the first place. It’s a double standard because the entire reason you do it in the first place is because you can’t talk about it. I can’t even explain what I’ve got going on. That’s the whole point.” Funny how his inability to talk about his work is helping my analysis. It's a mixed bag, and the experience trumps an explanation every time. Depending on one's disposition, one will either need LSD or Aspirin while listening to this. The album is loud, in charge, strange: a challenging asteroid of rock and roll.

The SE7ENTEEN: 2010

This year was full of amazing music, and perplexing popular choices. Kanye West made one of the most incredible albums EVER (apparently). I can't wait to hear it! Emeralds seem to have all the "it" kids by the balls. Why does everyone think it's the best album from a band no one's heard of? Granted, these opinions are weighted by support from the community. I just never got into either of these records. I like Caribou's Swim album, but I also didn't get into it. Once the amazing first track "Odessa" ends, everything feels like a drop off. I did get very into the new Arcade Fire album, and I intend to check out These New Puritans. Truth be told, I don't listen to much vocal-driven music anymore, so it takes something special to get my attention. So I'm going with what I know. Let's do this in reverse order, for extra tension (and because I like to copy everyone else).

20., 19., and 18. who get respect but no love.
. .

Strië - Sléptis . . Nils Frahm & Anne Müller - 7fingers . . Evan Caminiti - West Winds

17. The Parenting Award
Hans Zimmer - Inception Soundtrack
Have you heard the Flashdance soundtrack? It's a bunch of pop songs and mini ballads from the 80s, and if you listen to it on vinyl in your parlor the only thing binding them together is the production values of that decade and their overall mediocrity. In the context of the movie, it works ok (though Footloose is way better). Soundtracks these days are really getting better; more thoroughly conceived. When I listen to Inception while I work, my pulse quickens or falls, making me work faster or more intently. Hans Zimmer truly has perfected his style, and each film he scores has unique musical moments (Gladiator was good). The dude scores so many films, it's hard to understand how he can continuously come up with memorable themes. On Inception,there is a glut of themes, it's hard to pick which one is the flagship of the movie.Zimmer employs a few new tricks as well, and while the massive brass-driven DUHN - DUHNs are kind of cheap, they really are effective. Like a Playboy, or doritos. Except I don't feel cheap when I hear it. I am exhilarated.

16. The Fat Man Sweat Award
Slow Six – Tomorrow Becomes You
Christopher Tignor is one of those people who's too good. Explaining how he creates his own (open source) live-manipulation software to effectively make the bands he plays in possible can make your head spin. On top of that, his bands are really good - Wires.Under.Tension, himself, and this Slow Six thing, which is a bunch of all stars from the New York scene, though you've likely never heard of any of them. My friend Malcolm's even recorded with a couple of the guys who play live with Slow Six (we don't remember their names, but they were talented chaps). This brush with obscure stardom was fun for me to discover! I was pretty positive Tomorrow Becomes You was one of the best albums of the year back in January. Not much has changed. If anything, I over-listened to it, and now I have to wait a year before I go back. I was saturated with the glut of amazing ideas, techniques and compositional executions on this record that my ears are bloated. This is the only way I can explain its position at #16. But on another day this could be in my top five because the music on this album is what rock and roll is all about.

15. The Indigenous Christ Award
65daysofstatic – We were exploding anyway
These assholes just seem to get better and better. I was on an Amtrak back in 2001, on my way to Florida, when I ran into a very large young man. He was bound for Gainsville, his first scholarship year for the Florida Gators football team. He spoke of Jesus, and the entire train car ended up in our riveting religious discussion. My main problem was with the tenet that once someone hears about Jesus Christ and his availability for saving your soul, it was your fault for not being saved (and being damned eternally). "So people in Papua New Guinea, who have never heard of Jesus, who led a healthy and happy life, get out of this?" By his logic, that was the case. While this view is frustratingly flawed in some ways, it can be applied to 65daysofstatic, because if you are an aspiring rock band, and you hear these people, it's up to you to not suck anymore, to strive to be great at what you do. Never before has a band fused electronics and rock elements in such an energetic and exciting fashion. This record is an absolute riot, jam-packed with inertia. I know they're probably listening to Jay-Z, but I always imagine football players are listening to We Were Exploding Anyway while they warm up for a big game.

14. The Death By Kitchen Sink Award
World’s End Girlfriend - Seven Idiots
Who knew the same guy who sounds so slow and sad on Palmless Prayer: A Mass Murder Refrain would also create one of the most riotous explosions every committed to tape. And yet, Seven Idiots is highly accessible compared to Daisuke's Program Music, in my opinion. If you were imagining this album was to contain more mournful drift, World's End Girlfriend really shits the bed on expectations with this one. Centered around the Divine Comedy, Seven Idiots is truly an adventure in sound. It massacres anyone with ADD and satisfies those looking into the fine qualities of pacing. It sure sounds like Katsushido Maeda hired every manner of demon, pixie, video game character, gorgon, pink elephant and muppet to suit up in some comical suit of armor to unleash the joyous fury that this album possesses. Nothing on earth behaves as this record does. An anomaly.

13. The Secret Handshake with Terence McKenna Award
Dirac – Phon
How this record didn't end up on The Silent Ballet's top 100 is beyond me. One track. One hour. One novel, mutating organism. "Ambient" is merely the name of the diving board one launches off of while the ocean awaits beneath. My buddy Steve postulated that, "Dirac's project is to provide the necessary assistance to the listener, that she might access something within her psycho-physical existence that would otherwise prove impossible." To be swept away by this sleeping beast, is to leave the body and all relativity. This could very well be a dream. At its apex, Phon can help one achieve ecstatic frames of mind. Whoever these people are have a concentrated amount of knowledge when it comes to the finer details of soundscape drama. Definitely artists who are seriously into what they are doing, and I can't wait until they receive the acclaim they must be heading for.

12. The Classical Music To Get Dumped To Award
Daniel Bjarnason – Processions
This album is a testament to how the times are changing - but in a cyclical fashion. Back in the day, artists like this would be at odds with other composers, perhaps ready to duel at sundown over who was more honorable or talented. Nowadays, feuds are over the same shit, but we usually hear about how this one guy in the Rolling Stones dissed the girlfriend of so and so from INXS (look it up). It's the rock bands that are getting the attention put on their personal lives. The Icelandic composer Bjarnason has been writing and conducting other people's work for years, as well as his own. He's worked with so many incredible music outfits (London Symphony, Sigur Ros) that it's high time for a debut album. And what a massive piece of the earth's crust he has vaulted over the heads of the contemporary landscape! From this tower of amazing composition, this guy rains down the fire and brimstone in a visceral display of wisdom and fury. You don't just get dumped, and write a tune out of frustration with an orchestra. You do it with a guitar - thus the popularity of rockers. But this.. . . This Processions album, as beastly as it is, feels like it harnesses that energy. Considering the magnitude of a full orchestra agreeing to play these notes, no ex will ever recover from the rebounding wrath. Oh, and Processions is muy pretty, too.

11. The Ecstacy Award
My Education – Sunrise
Jesus god, another post rock album. But wait, this band is pretty good. And anything is better than this album cover. (As Richard Allen said, "All time least good!") So anything further can be redeeming, but wow, what a statement Sunrise makes. The production is as clear as crystal (with 8 different instruments, that's pretty great). The songs are riveting, for the most part, and compositionally speaking, My Education have a beat on how to perfectly arrange repeating parts. Meant to be a soundtrack to a 1922 silent film, this album apparently only features the highlights. I come out of it thinking nothing on the lines of post rock. Post rock is dead, and bands like this frankenstein it for the greater good. Also, someone told me that if you listen to "Oars" while on MDMA, it's awesome. I can imagine! Did you know that MDMA is used by therapists in Sweden and other nations as a chemical agent in resolving conflicts? If the dude in the silent film Sunrise ever took this drug, he likely wouldn't have gotten to the point where he was trying to murder his lover. So I recommend it. (the album)

10. The Canadian Dictatorship
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Orchestra rock. Why is this popular while orchestras are not? Why does the adding of classical elements enhance, while classical elements themselves have no luster in this climate of young music? Sorry Daniel Bjarnason. But people want to sing along. Fandom is contagious. The impression of being a part of something is powerful, while finding a genuine tribe is hard work or seemingly improbable. The Arcade Fire are a pretty well-knit tribe, one that people are ridiculously in love with everywhere. I missed my chance to see them at a small venue back in 2004. Opted not to chance it. But now they only seem to play the concrete noise church that is Pacific Coliseum. And they wouldn't be in such big venues if it weren't for their disgustingly quality albums. Suburbs will never be Funeral (perhaps the best rock album of last decade), but it is Arcade Fire. They ain't compromising for anyone. It's all bliss in its angst and pressing on. The lyricists are not cynical, they are full of hope, wonder, determination. It's the kind of album that you put your fist in the air to, while the other hand is writing a letter to that person you've been meaning to talk to for all your life.

9. The Perfect Springtime Soundtrack Award
Jónsi – Go
Oh, how all doubters were silenced by this. Sigur Rós was riding high, and then they made that one album with all the running asses on the front. Lost their luster a bit, for me. Are they sad? Are they happy? In order to better arrange these disparate emotions, let's go solo. Jónsi sure is happy. But we've all heard happy people that make shitty albums. Like Mr. T. Bruce Willis. Alf. Ringo. If Jónsi had made a movie, maybe it would be a B rate bargain bin special. Instead he's made one of the happiest albums I can remember. Not forced either. You know how Lords of Acid was sort of cool when you were younger cause it was all sexual and shit? Well, it's total crap. Forcing the sex thing into songs is a big no-no. So trite. Cheap. Cheaper than Mad Dog 20/20. Go is no fruit colored liquor. It is a unicorn frolicking on a flowery hillside, swallowing rainbows and harvesting manna. Or, that's what Ford Motors thinks, at least. What's up with that, you say? Jónsi doing a Ford commercial? Listen: It's not like Jónsi agreed to sing a song about the nuclear family driving cars over the bloodied corpses of third world sweat shop workers. He wrote a song, years ago, it's successful and full of joy, Ford gives him money. Ford was going to give someone money. Jónsi didn't have to do anything extra. I'd rather hear Jónsi than another rah-rah Pappa John's mess of an audio mix. You aren't buying cars anyway, you're loving this album.


8. The Having Sex in a Lamborghini, Eating Chocolate, Flying Off a Cliff Award
Talons – Hollow Realm
Mega awesome, high energy album. Someone we know once explained how they wanted to die, and it was roughly the name of this award. Why go out snoring? Fly by the seat of your pants, and fuck up as many times as you have to while you do what you love, that's what I say. Adding a violin player to a band is a little played out now, but adding two violins, however - now that's not so common. And in this case, the songs have so many changes and seethe with such intensity that it becomes a recipe we've never really heard of before. Hollow Realm feels innovative because so many post rock bands languish their energy in looooong build ups. No filler here. Talons are incredibly talented and they play fast and complex stuff. I am so satisfied when I turn this one up. My 2-year old is on breakthrough away from requesting it every day (like he does with some albums). But we all get obsessed. I'd say that each of the albums listed from this album on gave me so much so as to be obsessed for a long period of time. They are wonderful.

7. The World Eraser Award
Richard Skelton – Landings
This is not an album. It's life itself, contained in a man-made product. You might say, that's what all music is, to a degree. And I counter: Richard Skelton isn't music. It's life. Whether he is Cloubeck, A Broken Consort, himself - whatever - there is a special quality to his music that feels like it emerges from within the listener's heart. Was it because he recorded his mournful pieces in a vast wilderness where he secluded himself, with babbling streams, curlews and winds playing along with him? Was it the poetry he wrote to accompany the book graced with his dead wife's photography? What is this quality? It's magic; that's all I can say. Nothing compares to this guy's stuff. You can feel each bow string, each meandering thought. And no listen is the same as the last. If I was trying to be funny in this analysis, it wouldn't work. Because life is not funny. TV is.

6. The Best Soundtrack For A Devastating Premise Award
Brian McBride - The Effective Disconnect
Dude didn't call it "Soundtrack for...." No. This soundtrack is good enough to have its own title. Bees are disappearing everywhere, and it's horrible. People's livelihoods hang in the balance. Nature would never be the same, ecosystems might collapse. You might not be able to grow flowers in a pot! But wow, McBride sure makes it all sound pretty amazing. In fact, this album is so gorgeous, it has lessened my acute awareness that bee populations are declining. In essence, I disconnected (effectively) from the entire problem to instead focus on orchestral ambient perfection. Has Brian McBride done the world a disservice by ironically helping to destroy bees? Why care about bees when people are way more beautiful? I find myself going to this album a lot. The arrangements are more suite like, engaging the listener more than a Stars of the Lid track (which is often spread out over three tracks!). So beautiful. Just don't forget about the rest of the world too long...

And now, my top five.


5. The Virginie Lebeau Award
Black Swan - Black Swan (In 8 Movements)
You think Daft Punk wants you to respect the music and not the people who make it? They do. That's why they are robotozoids with fashion sense. But Black Swan ups the ante, choosing instead to appear as a series of X-rays! I don't know if this can be topped. There's no straighter path to the importance of the musical experience than to deliver it to your audience as an anonymous persona represented in ambiguous two-dimensionality. It definitely gives this album a special appeal, as if it had always existed - like a waterfall in a canyon, or a cluster of quasars. And in this case, the music is so compelling. It's ambient, drone, William Basinski-esque tape manipulation - and it is excellent. It has a creep factor, as if the listener is meant to be gagged and bound, subjected to a barrage of violent television or a parade of eternally damned sinners. And it is gorgeously conceived, as if the dark lord himself were singling you out for a soliloquoy about the everything. I have yet to listen to this record and feel jaded. Over and over, it delivers. There are few records that have this power over me. The fact that it's just over a half hour in length preserves the magic, and encourages one to play it again as soon as it ends.

Here is but one movement of the 8 at bandcamp.com

4. The I Got Nothin' Award
Olan Mill – Pine
I can't find a single disrespecting review of this album on the Internet. Come on, people. Doesn't anyone hate Olan Mill? There's got to be something bad to say. "Too Good. You might as well just die because nothing's really going to be as beautiful as this again. Kill yourself." You would think that if everyone knew about this album, the suicide rate would actually go down. I reckon people kill themselves while crappy music is playing. Serial killers on the other hand - they might warm up to this album. Kind of like how the Joker loved classical. Well, this is modern classical, so get with the times, you lunatics. Pine plays out like an afterlife romance, provided that that afterlife takes place in a regal mansion with a ballroom, cloud vistas, aromatic fields - really pretty places. There's nothing dark about this release (in case you think "afterlife" is synonymous with something morbid, that's not where I was going). It is bright at the corners, optimistic, all the love in the world, effusive, just out of reach. An audio symbol of the condition we humans have where knowing everything about existence would just crush us. It would be too much. This is the music that laments but smiles in light of this. Hard to realistically say anything asinine about Olan Mill's debut. Splendid stuff.

Listen to Pine on Soundcloud.

3. The Jesus Makes No Sense But Buy it Anyway Award
Year of No Light – Ausserwelt
This band is all kittens and cranberries. Kittens are, of course, juvenile rodent murderers. Cranberries are a bitter fruit that can only survive in acidic bogs. Now imagine a bedraggled cat, soaked in bog water, maw full of bloody cranberries - a zombie, cast aside by the eyes of love, left to wander the badlands without purpose except perhaps to hunt down the innocent, destined to crash in a heap and await a grizzly fate. That doesn't exactly summarize how Ausserwelt sounds, but it does bring to light its brutal sound palette, fused with a dreamy, shoegazey bent. This is not black metal - far from it. It's sweet, but bitter. It's fuzzy like a cat, but cats are also escorts for dead pharaohs as well as creepy in general. This is really a stupid review. What I really want to say is that this album absolutely destroys. In fact, I don't like cats all that much. But I do love cranberries. They help cure bladder infections. And they complete the North American holiday meal. So this album was bred from hate, but it's healthy and tastes delicious. It's purrrfect. (Kill me)

You can hear a track off Ausserwelt here.

2. The Cinnamon Toast Crunch On Christmas Award
Fang Island - Fang Island
I love the Black Swan album for it being disembodied from its creator. At the same time I love this album, Fang Island, for the fact that it sounds like people having fun. Clearly humans made this. It's got raw talent, amazing hooks, godzilla-sized guitar lines, and a sing-along factor I can't recall an album having since, perhaps, a Beatles record. And, to satisfy my niche mind, it has post-rock segments that are killer. (I am all about killer metaphors) Weird, wonderful, I don't know how this record feels so fresh. All it is is a few dudes with guitars and drums and voices, all fired up, in unison, slaying demons with songs. And they are having the time of their life. I think that's what does it here: the fun factor. You know how certain people always make you smile? Or make you feel validated, smarter, or something? People like Joseph Campbell or Tom Hanks. They just have that special joy that makes their life a work of art at all times. They love it. Fang Island are totally in their element. A lot of young bands start out loud and proud, swashbuckling their way to their third and fourth albums where shit starts to slow down and mellow out, disappointing millions of bandwagoners, only to nestle comfortably into a market niche that has nothing to do with the grassroots or genuine nature of being in a rock band. This band, however, feels like they could make happy rock and roll forever. They don't give a fuck, but they care about you! Have you seen them playing in that kindergarten class? Tell me these guys aren't in it for the joy.

Listen to the whole album here.


1. The Toy Story 4 Award
Nest - Retold
We put up with sequels all the time. You might have seen the latest Toy Story film and thought what I thought: best one yet. By far! Most of these sequels fall flat. You don't really think the third Austin Powers was superior, do you? Is the debate worth it? How high were you? Regardless, this re-telling of old tales is a part of our culture. Movies do it all the time. But when an album gets re-tooled to better express an artist's vision, woa, Hey now. We'll listen, but we won't validate you. Oh the controversy. To explain, five of these songs were released as an EP in 2007. One of them was re-done for this release. They all were re-mastered. Four new tracks were added to make it an album. And thus, it is not eligible for pretty much anyone's best-of-2010 lists. I was up in arms. "Big deal! It's amazing." A technicality may deprive many willing ears from one of the best secrets of the year. It's a crime. Retold is easily one of the year's best; Nest's Empire Strikes Back. It's hard for me to decide whether or not this or Olan Mill's record is better, but I think Nest has the edge. Maybe it's the otherworldly, ethnic flavor of the Welsh harp. Or the perfect placement of every single note. My buddy Gabe was equally amazed in his review of this amazing work of art. Nothing is out of place. The album's flow is lovely. The beauty is stark and evanescent at times, but more often it is as tangible as a moss covered stone at the water's edge. Your cheek on its moist fuzz, the sound of the waves lapping. Linear time is gone. The album's narrative is just top notch, with each instrument woven in like a star in the sky's indigo blanket. Retold's space is consistently large, and cozy. Constellations appear everywhere, in any form, depending on how you connect the dots. I think what makes the album so special is the myriad and unique voices heard throughout. "Kyoto" uses that harp and a synthetic 'Japanese' mirror instrument. "Marefjellet" has a peculiar air of nervousness and determination. "Amroth" is a total drifter into the arctic waves of white. The fact that these two musicians added songs to an existing EP and made it better shows a lot of skill and integrity about what kind of story they are trying to tell. That EP was just the trailer. This is a complete work. Impressive, gorgeous and essential listening.

Listen to Retold here:

Everest's Year End List

I think the name of the CD was Go Bananas by The Wiggles. It looks like this. Tailor-made kids sing alongs. Everest's grandma got it for us, and I really should have given it more of a chance than 0 listens. But these CDs irritated me when I was little. For completely selfish reasons I tried to impress upon my 2-year old other music; music that we like. And to smashing success! But not what I'd expect, exactly. These are Everest's Top Five Albums of 2010.

5. Stokes Field Guide to Bird Songs ~ Western Region

"See the mourning dove," said Everest on December 31st. The dawn of bird call recognition has begun, and it started with this 4-CD intimidator pack of bird calls. This collection is annoying because several bird species will appear on each individual track, but Everest's interest in hearing the birds and seeing their accompanying pictures (in iTunes) piqued as soon as I showed it to him. He knows the calls of red-tailed hawk, Wilson's snipe, and sandhill crane, though he has yet to see them in person.

4. The Glitch Mob ~ Drink The Sea

This was one of those albums I was really high on for a while, and I tried to get Everest to dance to it often. The first time he requested "hear da gitch mob" I swelled with pride. More profound for him, though, was likely the album cover. When scrolling through iTunes, he would ask to either see the Lights Out Asia cover with the sun and clouds or this one: superimposed numerology symbols atop a desert field with an astronaut and, his favorite, a snake. At two and a half, this kid can already differentiate between boas and cobras. Not that the Glitch Mob gets credit for that, but his proclivity for snakes was identified early thanks to this album.

3. Fever Ray ~ Fever Ray

There has only been one album E-man has asked to hear more than the number one on this list, and that's Fever Ray. Hearing a two year old utter the name of Karin Dreijer Andersson's alt-electro project from 2009 is just too adorable. If I had to hear Go Bananas over and over, I'd probably drive off a cliff. Instead, the repetition of these melifluous tunes is welcome, and it primes our child for a wider range of what pop music can sound like. Have you heard her voice on some of these tracks? It is Zuul. Since E's scared of fireworks, it's nice to know a nocturnal alienade can put him at ease.

2. Expo 70 ~ Black Ohms

I've mentioned this record before as being a prime album to put my kid to sleep to. It still works. Something about the buzzing drones and echoey guitars are mesmerizing for Everest. And me. I feel a strong sense of comfort when I've got him lying on my chest while I sway in the rocking chair at those times when there's no way Mom can give any more. Given that E still breastfeeds, it's a triumph to be able to put him to sleep myself, and Black Ohms has accompanied a high percentage of these times. And what obscure music fan wouldn't just die at their son asking, "Hear the drones dad. The black CD." I'm in love.

1. Scissor Sisters ~ Night Work

I bought this album for Julia. I had little interest in the band, but sometimes you just do nice things for your true love. That was five months ago. Now I know just about all the lyrics, have been to a Scissor Sisters concert, and am seriously considering buying a tee shirt. But not for me. For Everest. I cannot believe how much he loves this album. Its cheeky, gay innuendos matched with BeeGees harmonies, nocturnal four on the floors, and genuinely good song writing seem to be the perfect match for my two year old. He asks for this album (the red one; and on rare occasion, the brown one) pretty much every day now. There's a really good way to know if an album or a movie is actually any good and that's how many times you can stand to listen to it. The Iron Giant is a good enough film where we could watch it over and over and still find wonderful things in it. Same goes with Night Work. I never thought I'd be saying this, but this is actually a good album. Couple of songs I could do without, but overall, the narrative it strives to tell is spot on. All the pieces fit. It's funny, it's fabulous, and Everest can't live without it.
"Go for a drive, dad. Hear scissor sissters."
"How about a different album this time? There's so much music in the world."
"How 'bout scissor sissters?"
"Will you promise to fall asleep?"
"Scissor sissters. The red one."
"Dear god."

Talons - Hollow Realm

One of my favorite albums of the year (right at the end). It placed 28th on The Silent Ballet's year end list. Check out my full review.


The fusion of punk, math, metal, and post-rock isn’t often achieved with such natural results. Just one listen to “Peter Pan” gives the listener a sense of how much fun the band had in scribing these tunes. A roiling, octopoidal drumbeat with violins as menacing zephyrs breaks down into a distorted, chugging trawl before a ferocious strumming section kicks into gear. Already the mind is dancing pirouettes. Then the sumptuous rock breakdown snaps into action, like a mechanical saber-tooth tiger racing through a canyon at mach three, ubiquitous explosions and gunfire barely making a dent in its magical hide.

Danny Saul - Kinison - Goldthwait

My review of this suspiciously good album by Danny Saul. It still haunts me, its sounds bewildering at times, stuck in my head, a gluey maelstrom.


This is music that clusters and billows. It has a deceptive speed to it, mutating in a clandestine fashion while it casts a spell. Melodies I could not place that were playing in my head turned out to be pieces from Kinison - Goldthwait. The album begins with a subtractive static that slowly births a swooning guitar melody drenched in sumptuous reverb on “Kinison (Part 1)”. It is quite beautiful, as if it is setting the stage for more exotic emotions, like those in Parts 2 and 3. Skeletal piano chords flock to the clouds before a wet electric acoustic guitar leads the ambient drift toward organ and drone. This melodic and delicate portion of the album is not where the story ends.

Teebs - Ardour

This album is great. Read the whole review at The Silent Ballet.

Before eventually adventuring to Los Angeles where Flying Lotus lay in wait to discover him, Mtendere Mandowa had only been creating beats for a short time. Within his artistry is an alchemical ease that makes a lot of hard working artists nauseated with envy. Teebs definitely likes instruments that sounds delicate. His affected, arpeggiated flutes, bells, and chimes spread like a network of mycelium through the thick hip-hop beat-driven soil.

Elisa Luu - The Time of Waiting

Decent electronic dreams from a lady in Italy. Here's the review I wrote.

It’s summer time, the county fair is on, and your nine-year-old hands grasp an aromatic serving of cotton candy. The line for the Zipper ride is short. It feels like freedom, marvelling at all the smells and blurred human forms. This warm and distant place is evoked by “r735”, which opens The Time of Waiting with the chatter of children, mechanical wheels, and tracks, whirring beneath the twinkles of a backward acoustic guitar. Wahed vocal tones make the track as memorable as the images it invokes. The honey-baked vocal-esque tones warm the chest like hot cider.

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - The Social Network

Oh Trent. My first review of your music after over fifteen years of listening. I was excited about you scoring a film almost ten years ago, and at long last we have it here. I still prefer Still, though I am hugely interested in seeing this film to witness how well the music fits. In spite of the decline of my interest in NIN, I am continuously compelled to listen to this soundtrack. It does have a hypnotic edge to it.

Good film scores create a consistent mood rather than upstaging the action on screen. This soundtrack certainly pulls it off, with many ideas packed into multiple versions of the Reznor/Ross method. For those disinterested in Reznor’s dark Dr. Seuss-like lyrics, or confounded by the density and glut of directions on Ghosts I-IV, The Social Network may be the panacea. This score may combine the lowest common denominators to achieve depth, but it does so for a cause, without compromising Reznor's musical fortés. It is safe, yet effective. The limitations of matching one’s music to another’s ideas was likely a boon to Reznor and Ross. Their subdued approach to this release makes this the pair’s most relaxed effort to date.

Brian McBride - The Effective Disconnect (Music Composed for the Documentary “Vanishing of the Bees")

I love me some Stars of the Lid, and for this solo effort, Mr. McBride has truly improved upon his craft. Read my entire review on The Silent Ballet.

McBride was asked by the George Langworthy and Maryam Henein to consider four different themes: “the gloriousness of the bees, the endurance and hardships of traditional beekeepers, pesticides and the holistic nature of non-industrial agriculture.” Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Piece of cake! In all seriousness, though, he attempted to focus on the gloriousness of the bees, to give the sad narrative a balancing serenity. A butterfly or a bee is beautiful to behold, but its life is temporary and fragile. McBride expertly captures this delicate aspect of life. His music hurts the heart, not in a bad way, but in a way that lets you know it’s still there. He felt that his tendency to make his pieces more mournful won out in the end, but these forty three minutes are too beautiful to wallow in sadness.

We depend on bees and other insect pollinators to have the varied diets and beautiful worlds that we do. While the documentary gets into the agricultural and political severity of this matter, it also celebrates humankind’s relationship with bees as well as honoring the benefits of “Colony Collapse Disorder”. The film is an earnest look at such a crucial facet of a fundamental part of our lives, and Brian McBride’s soundtrack is a worthy match, capable of fully resonating with a listener even without the benefit of seeing the film.

Aun - Black Pyramid

Here's my review of the new Aun. A mildly satisfying adventure into the depths of space.

Aun packs enough grit into its hokey star surfing to satisfy, and often the music shimmers divinely. It’s fascinating to hear something so vast and dark sound so wholesome, as it does on the title track. Still, Black Pyramid does not quite hit upon the organic vitality of the band's Motorsleep. It’s pretty, but it can feel like wearing a labcoat at the edge of the universe. Despite the band's sumptuous efforts to make the guitars and melodies sound like they are crumbling, the synth sounds can often sound primitive, infused with a Larry Fast (Synergy) vibe. Yet more often than not, this album’s delicate doom will help listeners to visualize monolithic temples migrating through swarms of ice crystals and sunbeams being swallowed in dark rifts of nothing. The subtle sound woven behind the main melodies makes a strong backbone for Aun’s trippy tales. Recommended for fans of Hecker, Aidan Baker, doomgaze, and darker climes.

Solo Andata - Ritual

This album is haunting and engaging, and I secretly want to go back to it again and again, though I am not sure why exactly. Read the review!

What is striking about this Australian duo is that they do not sound electronic. The overall effect of their audio science strikes one as being a completely natural phenomenon. It’s easy to conjure imagery while immersed in their rich, “sonic topographies,” which is a good sign of an engaging listen. Solo Andata have scripted another unique weave of sounds that, while invoking the natural world we humans coexist with, can only exist in its artful synthesis. The final track is full to the brim of sounds and ideas, but toward the end things drift off again into an unfocused somnambulism. Clearly this is the intent of the artists. What may seem like a letdown to the average person consuming a pumpkin spice latte can become for the focused listener a dance between the subtle and the intense. Given the right chemical guides or frame of mind, this album has the potential to cast a powerful spell.

Her Name Is Calla - The Quiet Lamb

This was a tough one to write. The album is just so massive. Hopefully it's not a tough one to read. Go ahead; read it! It's one of the year's best albums.

While this album behaves as a sorrowful witness to our lost traditions and civilized blindness, opening track “Moss Giant” reveals the playful storytelling Her Name Is Calla is capable of. Violins sustain, mallets gong cymbals, and a hopeful piano awakens in a clearing. “Oohs” and “aahs” drift in and out, and the scene is easy to picture as we look upon an ancient tree, wondering, “How can something so true be so fragile?” The strings creak like branches echoing in the canopy, and with nature as our base, we begin the journey.

The tone set on this album hints at an inescapable, pallid future, not unlike the worlds of Radiohead or Cormac McCarthy. Western culture favors the mindset that we are all individuals in contention with each other for an exclusive version of freedom. Her Name Is Calla, like many artists, rejects this, and devotes a musical landscape to faith and hope for us all to awaken before more unjust and brutal realities unfold. Vocals are often used as atmospheric support, and this element imbues the rather dire tales with a refreshing sense of optimism.

Concern - Cæsarean

I had high hopes for this record, but it wasn't the bag of chips extra than the "all that." It seems like Concern is best at writing drone EPs, as this record seems to be the combination of two strong EPs which max out at 76 minutes. Read the incredible break down of my amazing critical thoughts on The Silent Ballet!

Concern is very good at creating meditative drones fueled by perpetual energy. These typically possess great momentum, but when broken up after gaining so much speed, a veil or two drops. There is a lot of good work on Cæsarean, but in the artist's attempt to vary the landscape, things go awry. Nonetheless, as drone artists go, Concern is fundamentally glorious to listen to and a few speed bumps along this album’s arc needn’t deter listeners from checking it out.

Concern / Cæsarean by slowflowrec