2 posts tagged “radiohead”
Lists, lists, lists. Here’s mine!
Side note: It’s obvious to anyone at this point that Departures by Tom McShane, Mistake: Do Over by The Terribles and Forty-Four Stone Tigers by Overview head the list of records-you’d-be-mad-to-miss for 2007. Check 'em out over at the Penny Distribution Artists Page
That said, here’s another 10, in no particular order:
Armchair Apocrypha by Andrew Bird
Mr. Bird got me with 2005’s instant classic “A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head” (from the album Mysterious Production of Eggs) and the follow up is an orchestral, unpredictable delight. And the man can seriously whistle. Standouts include Armchairs and Heretics. His debut albums were recently re-released by Rykodisc and are well worth checking out as well.
Cold Burns by Starvin’ Hungry
Guilty pleasure numero uno for 2007 was this Montreal band’s newest, Cold Burns. I can’t tell if the memory of the barn-burning set they played opening for The Besnard Lakes is what makes this record so god damn riotous, or if the exuberant rock n’ roll alone, on display on this record, is enough to bring out my inner pyromaniac. Who cares? It’s fucking great.
The Flying Cub Cup by Beirut
A wonderful happenstance of discovery via a friend’s Simplify Media feed (go get it), Beirut’s debut (Gulag Orkestar) was a revelation - a band without a guitar player playing emotive, whimsical eastern-europen-tinged joyfulness. There are too many sophomore slumps to mention, but this ain’t one of ‘em. Fab.
From Here We Go Sublime by The Field
There’re mashup elements to this album by German-electronica group The Field, but nothing close to any Girl Talk moments – weirdly, it happens that these moments form the best parts of the record, (The Deal, Sun & Ice) adding an additional element of understanding to an incredibly complex yet surprisingly funky record.
Gagagagaga by Spoon
Britt Daniels does it again – stripped down, whacked out amazing rock. The hand-claps ALONE during the chorus of “Underdog” illustrate the mastery of songcraft these guys have. And then there’s that grin-inducing video for “Don’t You Evah”. Greatness.
Untrue by Burial
Subtle, eerie and downright frightening, Burial’s ability to turn simple phrases ("I can’t keep my eyes off you", from "Near Dark" for example) into creepy obsessions, coupled with a mastery of atmospherics made this the album my AudioScrobbler loves to hate.
In Rainbows by Radiohead
Behind all the hoopla (which apparently created the term “doing a Radiohead”), In Rainbows was a damn fine album, easily one of the Top whatever of the year. Fave? Jigsaw Falling Into Place (mainly coz of this great video by Adam Buxton)
Are the Dark Horse by The Besnard Lakes
The track "For Agent 13” is easily my favorite song of 2007 – talk about storytelling and emotional movement! The whole album's a front-to-back masterpiece – now I’m just praying the followup doesn’t suck.
Dreams by The Whitest Boy Alive
My guilty pleasure of 2007, Dreams was a flyer. I was never particularly fond Kings of Convenience so a side-project record by KoC lead singer Erlend Øye was a bit of a stretch (although, James Iha’s “Let It Come Down” had been a very pleasant surprise – but that was in ’98!) Thankfully, Dreams is a stripped down gem, complemented by craftily structured songs and an airtight rhythm section playing hooks that get lodged in your brain. Woot!
Person Pitch by Panda Bear
Amazing that one of the members of Animal Collective could make a record that sounds so unlike the AC, and yet so much a part of it – Beach Boys, Bjork and Battles all mashed up in this 6-track nugget, with Bros the cream of this personable crop.
Can’t believe it’s been so long since a post…although it’s not that I’ve been idle. Just a few of things that’ve been happening lately:
- Final preparations for the two debut releases from Penny Distribution on 10/29/07
- Mistake, Do Over E.P. by The Terribles (Buy or Preview at iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody & Napster.)
- OR pop on over to LastFM, Pandora or other streaming widget to get your fix for free.
- Redesigning PennyDistribution.com – with plenty of Web2.0 bells & whistles. Coming in November!
- Even though I wasn't there, Penny Distribution was represented at CMJ this week! Woot!
- Talking to the next Penny acolytes – bands with punch, power and potential - and lots more “P”s. Still talking, so word on that soon.
- Further definition of the Plan – things are really shaping up. If you’re a band, artist or manager looking for a powerful online marketing package, shoot me an email.
- I was at Digital Music Forum West in Los Angeles. As I’ve come to realize from these gatherings, the panels (where speakers and moderators discuss pre-defined subjects) hold little real value. The subjects are often well-worn (social media, P2P, labels future) but there are rarely any radical ideas from the panelists. The ideas of Yahoo! Music head Ian Rogers were particularly succinct, but nothing we didn’t already know. The problem, as always, is lots of people describing the problem with little attempt at finding a solution.
But like other events, there was some real progress, optimism – and most of all – great ideas when I got to talking to attendees outside of the panels. The most interesting sentiment was that everybody is moving on without the major labels. “If your business model revolves around licensing content from major labels, give up now”, was how one music 2.0 business owner put it. I even spoke to a number of Major label employees who were there to learn more about digital music so they could jump ship as quickly as possible.
As it was my first time in Hollywood, it would only be right to go out and get hammered, bump into Nicole Richie in the bathroom, right after watching Robbie Williams as a surprise guest on stage with Mark Ronson (remember that cover of Radiohead’s “Just”?). There’s a reason they call it HollyWeird.
Of the most impressive displays at the conference was the keynote by Mark Gunheim of www.WiredSet.com – there wasn’t a lot of coverage of this detailed, prescient and most of all useful presentation, probably because of the start time (8:45am). I firmly believe companies like Mark’s will be at the vanguard of the new music industry and will be, if not a replacement for labels, at least participants in a large share of the Music Industry 2.0 market. His presentation is available here
- And of course, then there was Radiohead. As my regular readers will attest (hi, mum!), the move is clearly in line with a radical change of perspective I’d posted about back in July, and also a fairly hefty nod in the direction of Chris Anderson’s idea of “free”. I’ll not comment any more, as enough has already been said (As the Onion put it, “Radiohead sells 1.2 million downloads, Generates 1.2 million commentaries”)
I will point you to the one post on the subject, throughout all the regurgitated hubbub, that really struck a chord, from Andrew Dubber’s New Music Strategies:
http://newmusicstrategies.com/2007/10/03/bits-and-pieces-of-radiohead/
And one commentary that gets it comically wrong:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/10/thanks_radiohead_for_making_it.html
Out!
