Discovery, a duo consisting of Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend and frontman Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot, came together in 2005, before either of their respective bands had experienced success. The two reunited recently to finish the project, an album of guilty pleasures built on R&B and synth-pop. "So Insane" showcases their trademark high-pitched vocals and keyboards, deriving its unique flavor from wild tempo shifts.
Grizzy Bear's Veckatimest is a masterpiece of twists and turns, featuring vocal harmonies and indecisive yet emotive guitar lines. "While You Wait For The Others" epitomizes the sound of the album. A slow build-up milks stop-and-go percussion and guitarwork beneath calm vocals for a full minute before erupting into a chorus balancing opaque proclamations with gorgeous, wordless sighs, both of which feature heavily throughout the remainder of the track.
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix exploded this year, charting as a top 40 album in the US, Australia, and half of Northern Europe. "1901" appeared on their website as a free download in February and the song took off, hitting #7 on the Billboard Alternative charts and appearing in everything from soap operas to Cadillac commercials. Is it worth all the fuss? Guitars are buzzing and ringing through hook after hook, and the hollered vocals are just happy to be there, "twenty seconds 'til the last call," begging you to "lie down you know it's easy / like we did over summer long." And that's the key - why fight how easy is to give in to Phoenix and "1901"?
"Fire Ant" is all about one element - groove. Bibio builds a beat and and atmosphere that sounds like the best of instrumental hip-hop, and then adds layers on top. As chopped up vocals meld to the beat and guitar lines run across the backdrop, the song builds into a full-on jam that can't be denied.
This track is pop heaven, matching a descending vocal hook with its keyboard counterpart to devastating effect. He could be singing about genocide and you'd be tempted to sing along, but instead the fun and comfort of daylight is the topic of exploration. Put this song on your iPod and use it as a shield against that pitch black stairwell up from the bus stop that always gives you the shivers - you'll feel like you're walking on sunshine (whoa-oh!).
Perhaps most closely related to Imogen Heap's The O.C. melodrama ballad "Hide and Seek", "Woods" is Justin Vernon's exploration of the powers of auto-tune. He eschews any element outside of his own voice here, wrapping layers of his own yearning voice into the backdrop for each successive verse of the song until it resembles nothing more than a pack of wolves howling back-up vocals for his gorgeous croon.
The Strokes' status as the Next Big Thing began to fade quickly after their first two albums unleashed a set of homogeneous but rawly melodic singles. Vanguard metrosexual frontman Julian Casablancas prepped for his forthcoming solo album by releasing "11th Dimension", in which he liberally drips charisma all over a classic Strokes guitar line and synth-pop accents.
Few outside of the faithful noticed Modest Mouse dropped a new EP this year, entitled "No One's First and You're Next." Isaac Brock breaks out his trademark yelps over a pleasant and original melody that feels so Modest Mouse you could swear they've used it a hundred times before. Bonus points for most-fun-to-yell lyric of the year for "Well, happy fuckin' congratulations."
Neon Indian take some lo-fi guitar and synth squiggle and produce a home-recorded version of the MGMT sound, replete with an ADD, too-catchy melody. The vocals are few and far between, but appear to involve erotic dreams, as he labels apparitions by his bedside "callypigious" (having shapely buttocks).
#21 The Very Best - Warm Heart of Africa (f/Ezra Koenig)
2008's hip indie take on the world music scene revolved around M.I.A.'s omnipresence (see "Paper Planes" and Slumdog Millionaire), a surprisingly fun mixtape by The Very Best (Malawian singer Esau Mwamwaya meets British DJs Radioclit), and some Ivy League punks who decided Graceland wasn't the defining statement of the gentrified Afro-pop genre. After mashing up M.I.A. and Vampire Weekend tracks on last year's mixtape, The Very Best convinced Maya Arulpragasam and Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig to guest on this year's debut LP, Warm Heart of Africa. Koenig lays down a golden hook on the title track and The Very Best milk it, building the song around a piece of African melody you won't be able to get out of your head.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment