Jonny Leather’s Top 100 Albums of 2008
Jonny Leather's Top 100 Albums of 2008
I've devoted a ridiculous amount of time listening to new music this year, seeing hundreds of records make their way in and out of my rotation. Though, I try to give every record I receive a full spin, some records are so immediately bad that I can't even make it through one song. The good ones, however, never fall out of rotation. Some are love at first listen, while others grow and grow, with a slow building love affair. While I understand the overabundance of year-end lists, I often find them to be helpful tools in what I may have missed, and I hope my own very lengthy list can provide that same helpful service.
Attacked By An Argentinian Cougar At Secret Machines Concert
The Secret Machines
Music Hall of Williamsburg
11.18.08
After putting the finishing touches on their elaborate stage set-up, Secret Machines drummer Josh Garza came to the crowd and began handing out 3D glasses (the same type the us nerds remember getting from the IMAX theater at science museums). The Secret Machines are already awesome enough to send shivers down your spine, so just the idea of their performance having any element of 3D was almost too hard to handle.
Only a month prior to Tuesday night's performance at Music Hall of Williamsburg, I saw the band put on a phenomenal show at Webster Hall. With this one being at a better, more intimate venue, it promised to be something really great, and the 3D glasses were just an extra bonus. Oddly enough, the crowd was pretty sparse. A band that once had a pretty large following was suffering to hang onto it, despite putting out a brilliant new record and their always epic concerts.
Directly before the band took the stage, an Argentinian cougar and her friend found me and took the spot next to me. From that moment on, her focus would be just as much on me as on the Secret Machines, who opened their set with "The Fire is Waiting." In turn, my ability to focus on the performance often became challenging, despite the dreamy Pink Floyd-esque tunes and Garza's pounding drums. Over the course of the set, the cougar kept moving in closer, attempting to make a drunken attack. My sobriety and intense focus on the band, behind the lense of a camera did little to hold her back. She was in for the kill.
More than halfway through the set, after a face-melting rendition of "Lightning Blue Eyes," she made her attack, using a cup of vodka & cranberry as bait, tempting me with it, until I finally had a sip. Meanwhile she danced closer and closer against me, and managed to cop a feel of my butt at least once in the process. Meanwhile I was havign a surreal, psychedelic experience, with the use of 3D glasses. What on Earth was happening to me? When did I become cougar bait, and how on Earth could I escape the clutches of a somewhat attractive older Argentinian woman, and why did I even want to? I just wanted to enjoy a Secret Machines show, and be totally immersed in their vibrations, and that was being made slightly difficult, though I was somewhat entertained by my interaction with this cougar.
When the band finished and the venue began to clear, I made my escape, before being mauled to pieces.
The Rumble Strips Have Soul
The Rumble Strips
Santos Party House
11.17.08
"I ain't got no soul," sings The Rumble Strips vocalist Charlie Waller while an entourage of photographers snap away, doing their best to capture the moment, and in turn steal what he claims he does no have. If he doesn't, it's hard to tell, because that British voice of his is really beautiful and full of something that could easily be mistaken for soul.
The Rumble Strips sound is as British as it gets, and as much as it could be dismissed as nothing new, the songs are so good and catchy that you can't help but want more. Opening for Lissy Trullie at Santos Party House on Monday night, they were even more impressive than on record. Their energetic, headline-worthy set finished far too quickly after the long wait that preceded their set, and it was also hard to follow for Lissy Trullie.
Changing Forms
The Forms
Union Hall
11.15.08
Some bands pop onto the scene and make a big splash. They're new and looked at with loads of potential, but when they fail to grow exponentially, people stop caring and move on to the next big thing. With the increasing number of blogs, and ways to easily access the ever-growing flux of music out there, the challenge for a band to stay relevant in a scene becomes harder and harder. A band could burst onto the top of the scene the way Clap Your Hands Say Yeah did a few years ago, but then get buried by all of the new hip bands a year later, unless they really keep themselves fresh in fans minds.
A few years ago, The Forms were one of those bands breaking onto the New York scene, though not to the extent of CYHSY or any other major recent act like MGMT or Vampire Weekend. With a tight sound occupied by angular guitar and keys, and an ever present rhythm section, there was good reason to think The Forms could become one of New York's next big bands, but it didn't happen. They were never drowning in unfairly unreachable hype like The Rapture or CYHSY, so they never really had so suffer a backlash, but The Forms have seemingly been forgotten since releasing their self-titled sophomore album.
Since then, they've lost the bass, and begun experimenting with more ambient qualities. On Saturday night, they headlined Union Hall, and everything that made them great the last time I saw them a couple years ago was still there. In fact, they had gotten much much better. In a week where I had already scene 4 shows/11 bands (including the 2 bands preceding them), The Forms still managed to stand out and impress.
After a good set by Javelins, The Forms began as guitarist Brendan Kenny alone on stage, fiddling with knobs, creating a weird swarm of sonic ambiance, before being joined by rambunctious drummer Matt Walsh, and singer/keyboardist Alex Tween. Once the trio had all taken their place, the brilliant melody of "Redgun" began to infect the crowd. From that moment on, any doubt I had that this band was still one of the best in Brooklyn, was completely erased.
While bloggers are racing to find the next great band, and thrusting loads of mediocre ones in our faces, they hardly ever give a band a decent amount of time to develop. Bands like Black Kids, MGMT, and Vivian Girls have all shown promise, but blogs have built them up too high and too fast, before these bands could really fine tune themselves before being hit with a backlash. Meanwhile, it sure seems like fine-tuning is exactly what The Forms have gone and done.
SVIIB + M83 = Awesomeness
School of Seven Bells / M83
Webster Hall
11.14.08
When Benjamin Curtis left Secret Machines to form School of Seven Bells with stunning twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza , no one could have guessed just how great the records that both bands would end up releasing would be. Critics and fans worried that it was the end of Secret Machines, and then the band managed to convince them otherwise. School of Seven Bells' task was different than Secret Machines. Rather than maintain their fan-base, they had to build one. Starting off like any other new New York band, they began playing the cities smallest venues, but were quickly climbing the ladder, thanks to their resume, connections, and amazing sound. When I saw them open up for Blonde Redhead at Terminal 5 early in the year, I instantly became a fan. There was no question that they were on a fast rise to the top of the music scene. Then when CMJ came along, they played a load of shows, and were finally getting a load of recognition.
At Webster Hall on Friday night, they did not disappoint. Mixing shoegaze, krautrock, and mystical Cocteau Twins-like female harmonies, their set seemed short and left a desire for more. Curtis' powerful guitar playing was just as mesmerizing as during his days with Secret Machines, and the beautiful Deheza sisters' voices were dark and enchanting. There were points during the set where a live drummer would have been more exciting than drum machines, but they were great, nevertheless.
Headlining the show was French pop shoegazers M83. When their record first made its way onto my desk, the John Hughes-spired artwork made it easy to dismiss yet oddly appealing. Strangely enough, the album cover was perfect preparation for the music contained inside—dreamy 80s-sounding pop music. It would take months for me to really begin to enjoy "Saturdays = Youth," but it did eventually happen. While the record never hit me hard enough to make my my end of year list, their live performance on Friday was really pretty spectacular. The mostly instrumental shoegaze pop swept through the crowded venue and sucked us in for the marvelous vocals on tracks like "Graveyard Girl." It was the type of performance that turns casual listeners into big fans.
Ford & Fitzroy Album Release Show
Ford & Fitzroy
The Studio at Webster Hall
11.13.08
Thanks to the joy of Myspace, I became familiar with Ford & Fitzroy over a year ago. It was a long distance relationship (never seeing them live, only hearing them through the great Myspace music player). I liked the tracks, but never dug further, and never managed to be free on a night when they were playing. Then after a long time without them, I received a copy of their brand new record, "Canyons," and was immediately blown away. Why isn't anyone writing about this band? The record is solid from top to bottom, seeming to get better with each track, better with each listen.
While Vampire Weekend and MGMT rise further and further into glorious popularity, there is still an untapped nebulous of great bands left in this city, and Ford & Fitzroy is one of the best. For the unfamiliar listener at Thursday night's show, the first instinct would probably be to compare them to Modest Mouse, based on Jay Schneider's distinctive Isaac Brock-like warble. But musically, they don't sound all that similar to Modest Mouse. Instead, the songs have a style more like their local kin Hopewell and Stellastarr*.
Celebrating the release of "Canyons," Schneider struggled to hang onto his voice at times (a friend said he blew it out earlier in the week during rehearsals), but gave it his all and led the band through an outstanding set that peaked with the epic "Handbags & Handgrenades." The performance reinforced what I had already gathered from my many many listens of "Canyons," Ford & Fitzroy is one of the best bands this city has to offer, and they won't always be playing the small, crappy clubs.
Live Picks 11/16/08 - 11/22/08
Let Them Eat Sea & Cake
The Sea & Cake/Death Vessel
Bowery Ballroom, 11.10.08
If you come to a The Sea & Cake show expecting a gimmicky balls-to-the-wall rock show, you've surely come to the wrong place. The jazz-influenced Chicago quartet has been making some of the most chilled out music for over a decade now. On Monday night, they spent the bulk of their set showcasing the new songs from "Car Alarm." Much like the band, the crowd was relaxed and totally respectful. I've never been a huge fan, I feel that their songs can flow so smoothly that they put me into a hypnotic trance. It's the perfect music for a lazy Sunday afternoon, so I couldn't help but think that the Bowery Ballroom should have been filled with comfy couches, where we could all sit back with a glass of wine and soak in those perfect tones and breathy vocals of Sam Prekop.
To make things even better, Sub Pop's Death Vessel opened for The Sea & Cake. After seeing them play a wonderful set at Pianos during CMJ, I couldn't help but be overjoyed to see them play again. After seeing them that first time, their sophomore record, "Nothing is Precious Enough For Us," has become an obsession. Essentially the solo project of Joel Thibodeau, precious is the perfect word to describe his music. Thibodeau's high falsetto helps make his somewhat traditional folk arrangements standout from the pack. Playing on Monday with only violin accompaniment, his performance felt intimate, and was once again very impressive.
Greatest Album Cover Ever?!
As a music geek, I've seen a lot of album covers, own multiple books collecting the best of them, and even went to college with the intentions of one day being a great album package designer. I've worked in record stores, and receive loads of cds every day, and this could quite possibly be the greatest of them all...
