A Different Sort of Best Of

Instead of what I usually do, this is a post summarizing several of the albums I had to review for the radio station in chronological order. Everything is still lumped together into one mp3 file, but this time (and probably from now on) I won't say anything on the track. Here goes nothing:

Download playlist (22:38)

1. Pens - Freddie

They always start new reviewers with albums that aren't particularly great, and "Hey Friend! What You Doing" is no exception to this rule. The hot new thing these past couple of years has been lo-fi, either in the vein of Ariel Pink or of the Siltbreeze catalog. Pens tries to write cutesy, nonchalant pop songs, but jesus, they can't write songs worth a damn. It just seems like they're not even trying at times. Other people do the lo-fi thing much better - check out the aforementioned Ariel Pink, Dum Dum Girls, or Vivian Girls. Out on De Stijl records.

2. Shonen Knife - Super Group

Okay, so Shonen Knife have been irrelevant for how long now? Even when they were big, they always seemed to be kind of a joke - they seemed incapable of playing their instruments at times, and they definitely didn't have the best grasp of the English language. "Super Group" is the band's 16th album, and they have yet to change their formula at all - loud guitars, catchy vocals, lyrics written in Engrish about the goofiest things. Out on Good Charamel.

3. Frida Hyvonen - Jesus Was a Cross Maker
4. The Bye Bye Blackbirds - There's a Rugged Road

My good friend Jonathan introduced me to 70's singer/songwriter Judee Sill about a year ago. I was amazed that she even got a record deal at all - her songs, while they are incredibly catchy, aren't the most accessible. A talented musician, she would often include sections in her songs that had a different time signature, or occasionally have odd arrangements. Then there's the lyrics - nearly every song is about Christianity. This in and of it self wouldn't be a big deal, but all of the Christian images are seen through a gnostic or mystic point of view. So when American Dust announced that they were releasing a tribute album to her, I was excited. The album is pretty great, even though many of the artists temper down Sill's eccentricities. Frida Hyvonen's much-lauded cover of Sill's greatest single is an example of this when it works - beautiful choir vocals and a minimal piano make her song become like a classic hymn. I included the Bye Bye Blackbirds track because it was my personal favorite from this album. The disc is called "Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill"

5. Vivian Girls - Can't Get Over You

If there's one thing I love, it's noise-pop, and Vivian Girls have been conjuring up some of the better tunes in that sub-genre for the past year or so. That being said, their second album, "Everything Goes Wrong", doesn't really live up to the standards of their self-titled debut. The songs seem underwritten in some spots, hoping to ride merely on velocity and noise. This track might be the most solidly written track on the album (although it might not be the best). Out on In the Red.

6. Ramona Falls - Always Right

Since Menomena is on a temporary break, Brent Knopf took some time to record a solo album, "Inuit". This can barely be called a solo album though - he has over 30 guests on this album. The recording process is slightly odd - Knopf had some ideas for songs, took them to individual friends of his and recorded with them for three hours. He did this many, many times. The results were then edited together (similar to Menomena's editing style) into cohesive, swelling songs. This track may not be the best one on the album, but it's been the favorite of mine since I first heard it because of it's cobbled-together style. If you like this, you'd probably really love the rest of this album. Out on Barsuk Records.