marcusharwell.net

Favorite Music of 2009, Pt. 10: Devin Townsend Project – Ki

Marcus — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:00:07 +0000

Devin Townsend released two albums in ’09, distinctly different. Addicted, released second, was a raucous, massive metal sound, more typical of Townsend. Ki was darker, subtler, and perhaps even more intense for that. Most of the songs have a clean guitar reverberating throughout, underpinning the compositions, always building, hinting that there may be an iceberg of frightening size that’s coming for the listener, but it doesn’t always show itself.

Devin Townsend Project – Disruptr

Strong melodies, a hallmark of all Townsend’s work, reveal his love of pop songwriting, despite the metal aesthetic he’s saddled with, and that he’s mostly happy with, of course: the boy does love it heavy. Dynamic is the watchword, here. Townsend, in typical form, pushes his voice from urgent whisper to balls-to-the-wall scream, often in the same song.

Devin Townsend Project – Gato

(click image below to go to artist site)

Favorite Music of 2009, Pt. 9: Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion

Marcus — Sun, 02 May 2010 14:00:00 +0000

I know, I know: hipsters suck, and they all latched onto Animal Collective last year. I’m sorry, but even a broken clock wearing skinny jeans tells the right time twice a day. Merriweather Post Pavilion is exciting, memorable, hypnotic. It’s hip, true, but in the best way. It feels new, throughout, melding computer beats and loops with traditional pop songcraft to create a mix that works so well, I couldn’t stop playing it.

Animal Collective – Also Frightened

If you have friends who say rock is dead, this is the album to hand them.

Animal Collective – No More Runnin

(click image below to go to artist site)

Favorite Music of 2009, Pt. 8: Tegan & Sara – Sainthood

Marcus — Sat, 01 May 2010 14:00:12 +0000

Lots of bands seem to be returning to an 80s aesthetic: booming drum tracks, analog synth lines, reverb, reverb, reverb. But nothing I heard last year recalled the decade of excess like Sainthood. Tegan & Sara, rather than simply using the production techniques of two decades ago, distilled an essence of early 80s rock that reminds me of the best and most revelatory of New Wave while still seeming fresh.

Tegan & Sara – Hell

Most of the songs on the album repeat a couple of intense melodic riffs as verse and chorus, but that’s not a bad thing. If there’s one thing T&S are good at, it’s hooks.

Tegan & Sara – Don’t Rush

(click image below to go to artist site)

Favorite Music of 2009, Pt. 7: So Many Dynamos – The Loud Wars

Marcus — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:00:09 +0000

Nerd rock! So Many Dynamos (palindromes get my attention) has a math rock underbelly, but lyrically the songs are more indie, if you’ll forgive the vagueness of that label, which is only outdone by “electronica,” a nigh-useless genre I haven’t found a way to improve upon.

So Many Dynamos – Glaciers

The complexity of The Loud Wars demands attention, so it’s not something to put on as background music, but having a ghost story, creation, existentialism, and numerous self references throughout makes for compelling listening, and one that almost requires playing the album as a whole.

So Many Dynamos – If You Didn’t Want to Know

(click image below to go to artist site)

Favorite Music of 2009, Pt. 6: The Field – Yesterday and Today

Marcus — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:00:12 +0000

Maybe it’s not quite the groundbreaker Axel Willner’s previous effort was, but the man is still making clever, subtle electronic music that straddles the lines between dance and IDM, and also creating its own paradox by being not quite background music but not requiring attention throughout. If that makes little sense, well, the music does speak for itself.

The Field – Yesterday and Today

(click image below to go to artist site)

Favorite Music of 2009, Pt. 5: Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years

Marcus — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:00:37 +0000

Super Furry Animals hail from Wales, in the UK, which wouldn’t be all that significant except that they often use Welsh in their lyrics. It makes them cooler, in a rock-’n'-roll, screw-you sense, that they don’t give a damn about making all the songs on their albums easily accessible to the English-speaking public. I doubt it’s as calculated for them, they most likely just enjoy doing it for its own sake. But I get to feel cooler for liking it.

Super Furry Animals – Lliwiau Llachar

The band has been making consistently great albums for many years, none of them seeming hastily made nor padded with throwaway tracks. The psychedelic element that runs through much of their work brings a dreamy quality to their sound, and never seems gimmicky.

Super Furry Animals – Mt.

(click image below to go to artist site)

Favorite Music of 2009, Pt. 4: Pogo – Weave and Wish

Marcus — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:00:33 +0000

I’m going to try and knock the rest of these out as fast as I can, ’cause this is getting ridiculous. April indeed.

Pogo is a DJ from Perth, Australia, who’s carved out a fantastic niche for himself by slicing movie soundtracks for melody and percussive elements and adding beats and basslines. Most of the human voices in his tracks are cut so as to make the words unintelligible, just a piece of a syllable here and there, when the note is right for the song. His Harry Potter mixup has a few more understandable samples than his usual, but it’s beautifully sequenced.

Pogo – Alohamora

He’s quite musically savvy, knows exactly what he’s doing, and he’s got a blog.

How Did My Hard Drive Migration Go, You Ask?

Marcus — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:16:17 +0000

I believe the following image sums up the situation:

It’s nice to have all my files back in the proper place, with a little more room to bang around in, after a two month hiatus following the crash. Back up everything, people, this is the first time I’ve not lost a single file.

Favorite Music of 2009, pt. 3: Joel Plaskett

Marcus — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:25:03 +0000

I’ve been fascinated by the Canadian music scene since I was hit with Rush, Triumph and Saga all in the early 80s. I latched on to Rush with a deep and abiding passion, and I’m still an admirer, though my tastes have changed a bit from those early days. In particular, the bustling Canadian indie scene is a source of neverending joy and amusement, and last year Joel Plaskett released a stunning collection of songs entitled Three. The triple album, 27 songs in total, ranged across multiple styles and moods, but never seemed to get stale or lose its momentum, even after multiple listens. In fact, I got into the laid back groove of it all the more I played it, and even now nearly always keep listening (if need be, over several car rides) until I’ve heard everything again.

That’s not to say I don’t have favorites. The opener is one of them, a bouncy, honkytonk groove that gets heads bobbing and feet tapping.

Joel Plaskett – Every Time You Leave

(click image below to go to artist site)

Favorite Music of 2009, pt. 02: Silversun Pickups

Marcus — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 07:53:26 +0000

Silversun Pickups dropped their second great album in a row this year [edit: That is to say, this is the second great album for the band, not in '09 itself]. They’re a compelling live act, and even Brian Aubert on his own with an acoustic guitar is a pleasure to watch and listen to. I thought the opener was appropriate to New Year’s Eve.

Silversun Pickups – There’s No Secrets This Year

I don’t really need to say much about the band, I suppose, since they blew up all over the talk show circuit earlier in the year. The band knows how to work a groove, and Aubert’s lyrics are supple. The whole album works exceptionally well as a whole, a rarity these days. It flows, it’s dynamic, it’s thunderous and quiet. There’s not a bad track on it, but my favorite’s the closer.

Silversun Pickups – Surrounded (or Spiraling)

(click image below to go to artist site)

Happy New Year!

UPDATE 2010-01-01: I just noticed the .mp3s aren’t showing up in Google Reader, so I’m guessing that’s true of other RSS aggregators. Check my blog to hear the songs shown in bold, or better yet, buy the albums directly from the band. Most or all of them have their own stores.