Here is the first part of the Phil Roy interview. There's more to come.
Liner Notes: How are things going so far with the new album?
Roy: You're the first person I've talked to. I haven't sent the album to the normal outlets yet. So you're first.
LN: How is the album going to be distributed?
Roy: I have a distribution deal with Sony Red, so it will be in all the normal places where you can buy CDs -- Borders, Best Buy, Amazon iTunes. But, unlike my past records, I wanted to do something different this time. I'm committed to a year of letting it come out slowly to the market slowly. I don't want hype. I had that last time with my last Universal release and I didn't like the results. I had publicists, marketing people and radio promtion people and I was not happy with the way it was handled.
You know, I think there's got to be a different way to release music into the world than to hit them over the head with it. This is an intimate record. It does not call for a "Hey! Look at me!" I want people to find out about the album. I want them to have it in their lives, and I will hire people to help me do that, but I want it to be in a much more intimate way, just like the album.
LN: This album was an interesting concept... Here you are a songwriter and you've put out an album of other people's songs. How did you come up with the idea?
Roy: Well, I'm a huge fan of this particular Sinatra album. It's the first concept album, ever, you know? It's the first long playing record where from start to finish he keeps the same feeling, the same mood.
I came up with the wordplay of "In the weird small hours. The title alone was worth me exploring. I understand the weird small hours.
At first [the album] was going to be an interpretation. I was going to sing the songs on In the Wee Small Hours, but as I got into them, I found that the narrative was from a time that didn't quite sit with me. Just the way people wrote about love and loss and longing... I thought there are other people who write about these things in a way I could relate to...
LN: There are a lot of contemporary artists on this album ... Do you listen to that kind of music a lot?
Roy: Oh yeah, a lot. Elliot Smith, Doug Arthur. His song "Honey and the Moon." When I first that song, it stopped me. Music is so often in the background. It's just on the radio. It doesn't stop you. That song did.
These people on my record, I picked songs from their catalogs specifically for my purposes. Elliot Smith, Not everything in his catalog would work for me, but the song, "Everything Reminds Me Of Her" -- you know, when you've just ended a relationship, just broken up with someone, that line says it all. What else is there to say? Nothing.
I wish I had written all the songs I covered. Maybe on a really good day, I could come up with something similar. Maybe I will.
LN: So you didn't care about these songs' popularity.
Roy:I prefer to have these songs be unknown. I'd prefer if people had never heard them before. You have to be a certain kind of music fan to know these songs, except for "Sign Your Name,"which is such a great song. That first Terrence Trent D'Arby album was a classic. Did you know the song?
LN: Oh yeah, I had that album on tap. It's lost or in a box somewhere. He was a great singer.
Roy: He was a great singer. That whole album, Welcome to the Hardline, is a classic.
LN: So you were looking for songs that weren't hits. What other qualities attracted you to the songs you picked?
Roy: If you're going to call an album "In the Weird Small Hours," it better be a little wierd and small. I really felt like that was the template.
So yeah, thematically, all the songs deal with love. On my last record, there wasn't one love song. I was love-songed out. I had just gone through a divorce so I wanted to write about other things. These songs are all about love -- either celebrating it or cursing it.
LN: How about your collaborator. Julian Coryell?
Roy: He is one of my oldest friends. I spent 20 years in L.A. before I moved back here and to Chestnut Hill.
LN: It's a long strange journey
Roy: Right, It's a long strange journey back to the cobble stones... you know, cobble stones are kinda small and weird (laughs). Maybe I had to come back here for this.
Julian is a musician's guitarist. He's a guitarist's guitarist. A musician's musician. He's best known for being Aimee Mann's guitarist for years. And he's son of Larry Coryell, the real pioneer of fusion guitar.
Julian pulled into town and stayed with me in Chestnut Hill and every night we'd record a song. We'd work it out in the afternoon, go to the studio and record it. We recorded at Morning Star studios in Springhouse, which is where I do most of my work. It's where Melody Gardot did her first record. It's a very fine recording facility only 15 minutes down the road. We'd get a take with no drop-ins, no overdubs. It's so prominent these days to do 5 takes, patch it together for a "master" take.
These songs are all in one take. My vocal isn't touched. When you're listening to a guitar and vocals or two guitars and vocals, its like you're sitting with me right now. Its essentially a live take.
It was important to me to have at the heart of this recording something unscathed. Something untouched. So I think it feels good.
LN: Regarding Radiohead's "All I Need," did you ever arrange something like that before?
Roy: I've used horns before. The concept was mine, to sing the song against a brass quartet and drums and nothing else. But I didn't take those four instruments and write a chart. I found an expert for that. That's one song that doesn't sound like anyone else.
The main compliment I've been getting is that this sounds like an album, which for the most part no longer exists. It doesn't sound like a playlist or something you shuffle. To tell you the truth I don't know if anyone wants that anymore.
With Radiohead, they're your generation's Beatles [Liner Notes is 35 and agrees]. They are the best band of your generation No one else even comes close. I think they'd like my version. I think they'd listen and say, "Wow. He tried." It's all about having a concept and executing.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Phil Roy gets wierd and small for an inspired new album
In 1955, Frank Sinatra released what might be his greatest record. In the Wee Small Hours was a collection of intimate ballads, all selected for the record — a practice that was practically unheard of at the time. It was a record of singular theme and purpose, a melancholy rumination on love and the hurt love’s end often causes.
Chestnut Hill singer/songwriter Phil Roy had long loved that record.
Roy, 50, a Philly native and Hill resident who can often be found on the Avenue with his black lab puppy, returned to the area several years ago after working in Los Angeles for 20 years as a songwriter. His work has been recorded by a wide range of artists, from The Staples Singers and Neville Brothers to Widespread Panic and Los Lonely Boys.
A songwriter, he was not accustomed to recording other people’s work, but there was something about In the Wee Small Hours that appealed to him. So he decided to cover it. Roy planned on re-recording the original’s 16 standards for an album of his own. He had come up with a title, “In the Weird Small Hours,” and wanted to pursue it. “That title alone was worth my exploring,” he said.
But though he loved the songs on the original, Roy said the material didn’t work for him. “As I got into [the songs], I found that the narrative was from a time that didn’t quite sit with me,” Roy told me over coffee at the Chestnut Hill Coffee Company.
So instead, Roy collected a number of songs by others, but songs that are contemporary by people he considers the best voices now — Conor Oberst, Ryan Adams, Elliot Smith, The Eels’ Mark Everett and Radiohead.
The result is an album that is much more than a cover album of contemporary songs. It’s a thematically cohesive work that accomplishes what it promises — a piece that is both weird and small, and ultimately a modern thematic companion to Sinatra’s original.
“These are people whose songs I picked from their catalogs specifically for my purposes,” Roy said of the artists whose work he mined for the album. “Music is so often in the background on the radio, and it doesn’t stop you. These are songs that did. Take Elliott Smith’s song. Not everything in his catalog would work, but that song, ‘Everything Reminds Me of Her’… you know, when you’ve just ended a relationship, just broken up with someone, that line says it all. What else is there to say?”
Roy’s version of the song is even more spare and melancholy than the original — a feat that anyone familiar with Smith will find remarkable. Roy actually slows the song down and gives the vocals much more prominence.
Perhaps the main point of deviation from Sinatra’s original, aside from the modern themes of the material, is that Roy did not pick popular songs. In fact, he was more interested in material that was not in heavy rotation. In many cases, listeners will likely never have heard of the songs. How many have heard of Swedish singer/songwriter Anna Ternheim before? Roy does a terrific, almost spookily upbeat version of her “Lovers Dream.”
“I prefer if people have never heard these songs before,” Roy said. “You have to be a certain kind of music fan to know these songs, except for ‘Sign Your Name.’ That would be the song from Terence Trent D’Arby’s hit from his debut, Introducing the Hardline. Delivered by Roy with a very spare Latin-jazz feel — just guitar, percussion and upright bass.
It’s that spare approach to all the material that finds Roy succeeding in creating an album and not just a cover record. He manages to breath new emotions into songs like “I See Monsters” by Ryan Adams and “Beautiful Freak” by Mark Everett. They are not always more downbeat, but they’re always new. One of the more interesting tracks on the new album is a version of Radiohead’s “All I Need,” which Roy sings backed only by a brass quartet and drums. The version is unlike just about anything you’ll ever hear.
Roy said the album was recorded at Morning Star Studios in Springhouse and that he and collaborator guitarist Julian Coryell recorded the foundation tracks guitars and vocal in one take with no overdubs. When you hear Roy sing, nothing is overdubbed. Backing instruments — horns, strings drums and double bass — were added later. “It was important to me to have at the heart of this recording something unscathed and untouched,” Roy said.
Though In The Weird Small Hours was released only a few weeks ago, Roy has no big touring or promotional plans. “I’m committed to a year of letting it come out to the market, slowly,” he said. “On my last album (The Great Longing), I had publicists and marketing people and radio promotions people, but I was not happy … I think there’s got to be a better way to release music to the world than hitting people over the head with it. This is an intimate record and doesn’t call for ‘Hey! Look at me!’”
Roy will continue to play for fans and friends at his home, a practice he started several years ago called the “I’m Not Leaving the House Tour.” People can contact Roy about shows at his house — seriously — through his Web site: www.philroy.com or through his e-mail philroy@philroy.com.
In the Weird Small Hours is available locally at Hideaway Music. Downloaders can find it on iTunes. It’s also available at regular CD outlets like Amazon.com and Best Buy.
On Thursday, I’ll post the entire Phil Roy interview.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Michael Jackson: Artist of the Year (?!)
Award shows are pretty lousy, demoralizing affairs. This is particularly true of music award shows that regularly seem to be about 10 years behind the prevailing (good) tastes of their time. They can count record sales, sure, but when it comes to choosing music that deserves recognition, they regularly fail in breathtaking fashion.The American Music awards have finally done something that is even shocking for a music awards show: nominate Michael Jackson for "Artist of the Year."
Regardless of what you think about Jackson -- many love him, I could not care less -- the only thing he accomplished this year was dying (though, apparently, he was likely killed by his quack, according to police investigating the case). Is that all it takes to get an award now? I can think of a long list of artists who I wish would explore this option.
Perhaps to make the matter even more absurd, Jackson's competition includes only one act with any merit whatsoever: The Kings of Leon. Other runners up for the honor are Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga(!) and Eminem. It's funny, I thought Eminem was Artist of 10 Years Ago. This can only be nomination by drunken dart throwing.
Apparently the AMA's thought they'd take a page out of the Joe Jackson playbook and exploit the singer's name for ratings and buzz.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
And furthermore....
So I'm having second thoughts about my Top 20 already. Not that any should be removed, but there a few more that I feel need to be recognized.My Top 20 just doesn't feel complete. So here's 10 more. And then I'm done.
30. Dinosaur Jr. Beyond
So the original '80s lineup of Dinosaur Jr. gets back together and they manage to record an album that is definitely better than the trio's previous recordings and possibly better than nearly all of front man J. Mascis' other work.
29. Band of Horses Everything All the Time
First time I heard "Funeral" I couldn't get it out of my head. A wonderful, quiet and powerful blend of indie rock and folk.
28. Queens of the Stone Age Music for the Deaf
Dave Grohl gets behind the kit (where he belongs) with Josh Homme for a terrific record of dark, heavy rock that's never schlocky. Just loud and powerful.
27. Bob Dylan Modern Times
The greatest songwriter takes on "modern times" with a bunch of old school blues motifs (get it?) for a surprisingly fresh and outstanding album.It's not Dylan at his best (those days are long gone) but his last few have been lively and compelling.
26. Silversun Pickups Carnavas
OK, I get the Smashing Pumpkins comparisons, and this album definitely owes a lot to the late 80s post punk sound of the Pumpkins and the Pixies, but Carnavas is a great rock record all its own with great playing and good songs.
25. The Hold Steady Stay Positive
The Hold Steady are a sonic blast of fun, a wall of guitars behind Greg Finn's wonderful storytelling. A really great rock and roll band and their best (sounding) album.
24. Wilco Sky Blue Sky
What can I say? It's slow and noodle-y, but the songs are well done and the playing is terrific. "Impossible Germany" may be one of Tweedy's best songs.
23. Ryan Adams Heartbreaker
Back before Adams had a real hard time editing himself, he managed to put out a few really good records (this and Gold). Heartbreaker, which teams Adams up with David Rawlings, Gillian Welch and Ethan Johns, is a great collection of tunes delivered with real feeling, something that seems to have disappeared from Adams' recent work.
22. Blur Think Tank
Who needs Graham Coxon? The band's brilliant lead guitarist finally quit the band after steering it away from Brit Pop on the excellent Blur and 13, but Damon Albarn, Alex James and David Rowntree managed to release another geat album of dense and wonderful music. It will likely be Blur's last as the reunion this year seems limited to performance, not recording.
21. Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
The album title is silly, but the hysterical hype around this record was not unjustified. A great collection of punky brit pop delivered mostly at blistering speeds may partially camouflage singer Alex Turner's clever lyrics. Listen closely, these songs are really good.
30. Dinosaur Jr. Beyond
So the original '80s lineup of Dinosaur Jr. gets back together and they manage to record an album that is definitely better than the trio's previous recordings and possibly better than nearly all of front man J. Mascis' other work.
29. Band of Horses Everything All the Time
First time I heard "Funeral" I couldn't get it out of my head. A wonderful, quiet and powerful blend of indie rock and folk.
28. Queens of the Stone Age Music for the Deaf
Dave Grohl gets behind the kit (where he belongs) with Josh Homme for a terrific record of dark, heavy rock that's never schlocky. Just loud and powerful.
27. Bob Dylan Modern Times
The greatest songwriter takes on "modern times" with a bunch of old school blues motifs (get it?) for a surprisingly fresh and outstanding album.It's not Dylan at his best (those days are long gone) but his last few have been lively and compelling.
26. Silversun Pickups Carnavas
OK, I get the Smashing Pumpkins comparisons, and this album definitely owes a lot to the late 80s post punk sound of the Pumpkins and the Pixies, but Carnavas is a great rock record all its own with great playing and good songs.
25. The Hold Steady Stay Positive
The Hold Steady are a sonic blast of fun, a wall of guitars behind Greg Finn's wonderful storytelling. A really great rock and roll band and their best (sounding) album.
24. Wilco Sky Blue Sky
What can I say? It's slow and noodle-y, but the songs are well done and the playing is terrific. "Impossible Germany" may be one of Tweedy's best songs.
23. Ryan Adams Heartbreaker
Back before Adams had a real hard time editing himself, he managed to put out a few really good records (this and Gold). Heartbreaker, which teams Adams up with David Rawlings, Gillian Welch and Ethan Johns, is a great collection of tunes delivered with real feeling, something that seems to have disappeared from Adams' recent work.
22. Blur Think Tank
Who needs Graham Coxon? The band's brilliant lead guitarist finally quit the band after steering it away from Brit Pop on the excellent Blur and 13, but Damon Albarn, Alex James and David Rowntree managed to release another geat album of dense and wonderful music. It will likely be Blur's last as the reunion this year seems limited to performance, not recording.
21. Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
The album title is silly, but the hysterical hype around this record was not unjustified. A great collection of punky brit pop delivered mostly at blistering speeds may partially camouflage singer Alex Turner's clever lyrics. Listen closely, these songs are really good.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Favorite albums of 2000s
These are my favorite albums of the the last decade. I could say they're the best, but in order to claim that, I'd have to have heard everything there is and, well, I haven't heard everything. Even though I spend a ridiculous amount of time listening to new music, there are some bands whose album I just have not had the chance to spin.
So here's 20 albums I have heard and really like (or really liked at the time they came out). I did my best to order them, though in a month, if pressed, I might reorder the whole list.
20. Modest Mouse Good News for People who Love Bad News
Modest Mouse becomes really listenable and scores with a hit record that’s mostly about death.
19. Strokes Is This It I still suspect that these guys had a ton of help getting these songs written and performed so tightly. The album is a perfect piece of pop rock with great songs. It was the band's first and best.
18. White Stripes White Blood Cells Good songs, great sound and the album that launched a thousand guitar and drum duos.
17. Ray LaMontagne Till The Sun Turns Black
Absolutely beautiful.
Absolutely beautiful.
16. The Fire Theft The Fire Theft The Sunny Day Real Estate guys reunite, but this time without guitarist Dan Hoerner. The trio ditched the name but continued to develop the sound Sunny Day had reached on The Rising Tide.
15. The Black Keys Rubber Factory A bluesy duo from Akron, Ohio that perfected the drum guitar thing of the White Stripes.
14. Fugazi The Argument The post hardcore pioneers saved their best album for 2001. It's tight, melodic and just plain excellent.
13. Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand There's not one bad song on the debut of this Scottish disco punk band. Sure they sound a lot like Gang of Four, but they've got clever songs and great tunes.
12. Radiohead (#1) Kid A / Amnesiac I know, it's heresy to many to not have these as number 1 (Kid A especially). I get that these were awesome statement albums, but I think subsequent records might not have been as experimental but they contained better songs.
11. The Doves Kingdom of Rust
My enthusiasm for this album is due primarily to gut. I really like this album. Perhaps its shine is still really fresh (it came out this year)... I can identify weaknesses -- imprecise lyrics, corny keyboard sounds, a lack of theme -- but the sum total is a sweeping, terrific sounding album of great songs without a throwaway track.
My enthusiasm for this album is due primarily to gut. I really like this album. Perhaps its shine is still really fresh (it came out this year)... I can identify weaknesses -- imprecise lyrics, corny keyboard sounds, a lack of theme -- but the sum total is a sweeping, terrific sounding album of great songs without a throwaway track.
10. Drive By Truckers Brighter Than Creation's Dark These guys have released a lot of great stuff, but their most recent just might be their best yet.
9. Neko Case Fox Confessor Brings the Flood I have no idea what the title or the title track are about, but songs like "Margaret vs. Pauline," "Star Witness" and "Dirty Knife" are gorgeous and creepy at the same time. A truly original work.
8. Interpol Turn on the Bright Lights My head tells me that Antics is a better work, but I still like the debut best.
7. Radiohead (#2) In Rainbows Several years from now I may feel that this album was Radiohead's best. It's that good. But choosing their best album is like trying to decide which of your children you love best. It's not possible (at least for those of us with normally functioning souls).
6. Kings of Leon Because of the Times The Fallowills' third album is their best by a wide margin. It's loud and raw but tight and well-crafted. It's light years ahead of their debut -- an awesome rock and roll record.
5. Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
This is one great album that gets better the more you listen. Sure, the production is awesome, but none of it would have mattered without Jeff Tweedy's keen songwriting skills.
This is one great album that gets better the more you listen. Sure, the production is awesome, but none of it would have mattered without Jeff Tweedy's keen songwriting skills.
4. Arcade Fire Funeral
An amazing debut album that charted a sound and style that are really inimitable. Neon Bible is great, too but I favor Funeral's raw and unpolished magic.
An amazing debut album that charted a sound and style that are really inimitable. Neon Bible is great, too but I favor Funeral's raw and unpolished magic.
3. My Morning Jacket Z I was late to this album but once I caught up, I couldn't stop listening. I may have played it 100 times straight without letting anything else interrupt.
2. The Doves Some Cities A great record by a very underrated band. The Doves manage to shift styles and sounds, yet they tackle each song as if its destined to be a single. Brilliant music and terrific songs.
1. Radiohead Hail to the Thief
1. Radiohead Hail to the Thief
I think, again heretical perhaps, that Kid A and Amnesiac were warm-ups to Hail to the Thief that continued to chase the same themes of techno-alienation but with well crafted songs that didn't fail to include the whole band. I've often marveled at criticisms of the work as overly scattered or overlong -- how could you complain about having more of a record this brilliant?
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Best Acts of the Aughts
I've been reading lots of "best of" lists. "The best 500 songs of the '00s" and "The top 200 albums of the 2000s." So I thought I'd wade in.
But I don't have time to list 200 albums, so I thought I'd do something a little different and list who I think are the top 10 acts for the decade that is a few months from drawing to a close. My prerequisites: They released acclaimed works in the decade and are still, at the decade's close, an existing venture, a band or artist that we can suspect has more to offer. I also don't have much interest in building up an obscure band. I think great bands are measured not only by their art but their influence and you can't be too influential if you're completely obscure.
My method was one part scientific (I asked friends what they thought) and another part proudly subjective -- these are artists and bands I think are terrific, but for which I don't necessarily see that many share my enthusiasm. Perhaps it would be better called a favorite list, not a best of list.
Also, this is primarily a "rock list" I don't listen to dance music anymore and I don't listen to hip hop or pop much anymore, either. New country? Never. There's only so much time in the day...
10. Ray LaMontagne
(Trouble, Till the Sun Turns Black, Gossip in the Grain)
I like singer songwriters, and have gone through periods where I favor acoustic guitar to anything else. But there are few who I feel offer much more than revamped '60s sons and campfire fare.
Ray La Montagne can certainly be accused of some of these things -- he has his moments of sounding positively like an early '70s throwback -- but of all the singer songwriters I've heard, his songs and his performance of those songs are matchless. The voice, the dark, personal and nearly impenetrable lyrics -- all contribute to a sound that is ancient yet fresh at the same time.
And his story is remarkable, too. In 1999, at the age of 25, LaMontagne was working in a shoe factory in Lewiston, Maine when he awoke to his alarm clock playing Steven Stills' "Treetop Flyer." He decided to quit his job, sold a van for an acoustic guitar began shopping a 10-song demo. After playing around at various folk gigs, he was signed to RCA and recorded his debut, Trouble in two weeks with producer Ethan Johns, who also joins LaMontagne on tour as a drummer.
LaMontagne is not a trend setter, but he does what he does better than anyone I've heard this decade.
9. Drive By Truckers
(Southern Rock Opera, Decoration Day, The Dirty South, A Blessing and a Curse, Brighter than Creation's Dark)
There's nothing progressive about southern rock, but the Drive By Truckers, manages to take the sounds and attitude of Lynard Skynard and Hank Williams and lend it a sonic attack that owes more to Sonic Youth than .38 Special. They can be beautifully quiet but can also whip up a three-guitar howl unlike any other.
For a group that debuted as a decidedly more country-flavored band with the not very well titled Gangstabilly, the 2000s have been a great -- and prolific -- year for the Georgia quintet. One of the band's strengths has long been the fact that it is not a vehicle for a single songwriter. Guitarists Partterson Hood and Mike Cooley split most of the songs and the lead vocals, and the two have let their sidemen like Jason Isbell who left to go solo (and create much less interesting music) and current bassist Shonna Tucker share songwriting and vocal duties.
Because of that team approach, each album they've put out in the last decade is packed with terrific songs. And the songs are not pop fare. There are character sketches of infamous southern icons, everyday losers and drug users. They write about poverty, war and survival.
The Truckers have managed to take southern rock, as both a musical foundation and a theme, and make it sound brand new. It's not a schtick, it's great music.
8. The White Stripes
(De Stijl, White Blood Cells, Elephant, Get Behind Me Satan, Icky Thump)
I have a love/hate relationship with this band.
When I first heard DeStijl in a friend's car in San Francisco, I couldn't believe my ears. Whoever was playing drums was terrible. The playing was so bad, I couldn't duplicate it if I tried. Time went by and the Stripes got bigger and bigger. Soon I found I couldn't resist the early singles "Fell in Love With a Girl" and "Hotel Yorba." The White Stripes started a charge of garage and punk bands at the time, but managed to stay creatively ahead of the pack on subsequent albums.
I still feel sometimes that the White Stripes are a lot more about style than substance and that Jack White is not much more than a museum curator who will soon run out of ways to repackage Zeppelin riffs and three-chord mandolin folk pieces. This is certainly true of his recent side projects, particularly the dreadful Dead Weather. Still, their influence on this decade is indisputable.
And I have to give credit to Jack and Meg. You can take any one of their albums, turn up as loud as your ears can take it and it sounds awesome. What more can you ask of a rock band?
7. The Doves
(Lost Souls, The Last Broadcast, Some Cities, Kingdom of Rust)
I've long been a fan of British indie rock. Though I wasn't an adherent of the Stone Roses and never could figure out Oasis, I loved Blur, Radiohead ad am really impressed with newer bands like The Viels, Reverend and the Makers, The Magic Numbers and, yes, The Arctic Monkeys, too. The best of the pack for me, though (Radiohead excluded) is The Doves.
A Manchester trio that got its start in dance music but moved to indie rock when their studio burned down just before the decade began, the Doves have cranked out four albums in the last 10 years that have blended Radiohead's space rock sound with a much more pop-grounded sensibility in line with their Britpop contemporaries, like Coldplay.
But while Coldplay has gone for arena-filling bombast, the Doves have stuck to great songwriting and sound experimentation -- they mix rushing guitars with ambient keys and can move seamlessly from country-inspired stomps to droning guitar atmospherics -- that, in my opinion, makes them the most compelling English band this side of, well, Radiohead. Each album they've released manages to be better than the last, too as they add layers and sounds and more great songs. Their most recent Kingdom of Rust, released in January of this year, remains my favorite album of '09.
I really feel the Doves are criminally underrated. They've debuted twice at number one in their homeland so perhaps its just a matter of time before they catch on here. I won't hold my breath.
6. Neko Case
(Furnace Room Lullaby, Blacklisted, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Middle Cyclone)
Neko Case started out as something of a Canadian Americana act. (She's not Canadian, but that seems to be where her early career "took off.") She's also been a member of the New Pornographers during the last decade, but where she has really shined is as a solo artist, beginning with Blacklisted and following with two equally superb albums, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, and The Middle Cyclone.
On these records Case approaches American folk music from its darkest themes (death, lust, jealousy and the random cruelty of nature) and adds something all her own. No one else could have pulled off a song from the perspective of a lovesick tornado ("This Tornado Loves You" from Middle Cyclone). Layered with wild lyrics about spirit foxes, dead lovers and teenage fantasy, Case approaches her songs sonically with lots of reverb and plenty of oddball hooks. Her music is spooky and mesmerizing. It's distinctly American.
On a side note, I'm aware as I write this that Case is the only female artist/band leader that occurred to me in compiling this list. That female acts are not as prominent in indie rock in the 2000s is pretty puzzling. It's definitely something that bears more reflection. Perhaps in a future post here.
5. Interpol
(Turn on the Bright Lights, Antics, Our Love to Admire)
I was late to the Interpol appreciation party. I really liked the first record's sound -- the reverbed but funky guitars, the amazing rhythm work, particularly the loping melodic bass playing of Carlos Dengler, but I couldn't take large doses of Paul Banks' flat vocals.
I have since gotten over that problem and have really come to enjoy the band's work. There is something about Interpol's arrangements that are really cinematic in scope. The sound the band produces is rhythmically bouncy, somewhat dance-y, but the guitars can provide an awesome dark wall of sound or chink away in a funk rythm. Songs like "Say Hello to the Angels" and "Obstacle 2" from ...Bright Lights enjoyed all these qualities. And though most feel their first is their best, I think their sound only expanded on the followup, Antics, an album that enjoys more variety of mood and a richer sonic palette than Turn no the Bright Lights.
And although 2007's Our Love to Admire didn't get the critical kudos of Bright Lights, it contains great songs. The single "Heinrich Maneuver" is as good as any they've recorded. Love is a step backwards from Antics, but it's a step backwards from two amazing albums. There's no reason to doubt that Interpol has a lot of good material left in them.
4. Kings of Leon
(Youth and Young Manhood, Aha Shake Heartbreak, Because of the Times, Only by the Night)
Theirs is the kind of story a fiction writer might have a hard time concocting. Once a group of scraggly brothers and one cousin, who played support for their fundamentalist revival preacher father Ivan, the Fallowills have risen from a band of Nashville nobodies to become the "Biggest Band in the World" in less than 10 years.
Or it least seems like the Kings are the biggest band in the world. They started as a band known best for "Molly's Chambers" off their debut Youth and Young Manhood because of its placement in a clever Volkswagon commercial. But that was in 2003. This year, no rock song has received more airplay than "Use Somebody" followed closely by "Sex on Fire" off the polished Only by the Night.
Aside from the hype and the band's new turn as an arena band to rival U2, the raucous roots rockers who came up on the tails of the garage rock revival spurred by the White Stripes and Strokes developed their own, whip-tight and almost urbane sound that was completely perfected by their third album, Because of the Times, which is by far the band's best. Nurtured by a tour with U2, the band's rhythm section -- Nate and Jared -- has become one of the best in rock, Caleb's voice has become huge and Matt's lead guitar playing is tremendous. Those qualities, paired with the right indie look (packaging is everything -- no one was going to fall in love with these guys when they all sported mullets and mustaches) and the wild back-story has made this band one that may with us as long as a U2 or even the Rolling Stones.
3. Arcade Fire
(Funeral, Neon Bible)
There's something to be said for art that keeps the observer or the audience off balance. From the first moments you hear the Canadian band Arcade Fire, you are not only off balance, you can scarcely believe what you're hearing.
From the opening of "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," the first song on Funeral: an organ swells, a piano begins to pound and strings quickly join in while what sounds like a toy piano twitters in the background and a guitar and bass join the piano in a throbbing rhythm. Next Wim Butler's enters with that voice -- it's in the vein of David Byrne and Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock -- and he's singing about digging a tunnel "From my window to yours," the drums catch up and Arcade Fire in those first moments of the first album announced a rock sound unlike anything you've ever heard -- a blend of Indie rock and Parisian cinema soundtrack.
This is a band that can sometime swell to 10 members who will play everything from traditional rock instruments -- guitars, bass and drums -- to xylophones, harps, french horns and even a hurdy gurdy. It's a big, wild sound but one that doesn't lose the terrific songcraft at the heart of Arcade Fire's work. This ain't no world music band. It's a real honest-to-God indie rock band with a terrific sound and brilliant songs.
I'm hard pressed to name a band that is clearly influenced by Arcade Fire, though Beirut comes to mind. But that is likely more a function of how far ahead of the rest of us these Montrealers are. If you couldn't figure these guys out at first, give them another chance. It's well worth it.
2. Wilco
(Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost is Born, Sky Blue Sky, Wilco the Album)
First a qualifier: I like Wilco but I'm not sure they would have made this list had it not been for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I know, that statement is a lot like saying you don't think the Beach Boys would be all that great without Pet Sounds. But I wonder if this band's work without the accomplishment of YHF (for short) would seem so grand...
YHF is one of the great masterpieces of the last generation in rock, an album that started the decade with an inspired bang. It was a statement album from a band that had already veered pleasingly from the beaten path of its alt country roots with 1999's Summerteeth. YHF blew even those expectations away. It was a brilliant album that drew from the same psych pop stew as Sumerteeth but its songs were reconstructed in provocative arrangements (thanks to Jim O'Rourke) and set a new standard for American indie music.
Since then, Wilco has done a really good job of keeping its fan base guessing. There's few other bands that will keep music fans on the edge of their seats ever time a new album comes out. Wilco has managed to beguile us all, extending the experimentation with A Ghost is Born before settling back on the lovely, quiet Sky Blue Sky.
I have to admit that I remain disappointed by this year's Wilco the Album -- "Wilco the Song) and "Bull Black Nova" are great tunes -- but I'm hoping some subsequent listening will let the record grow on me some more. Still, Wilco has been a compelling band that deserves a lot of credit for not letting itself get too comfortable and for taking terrific risks. I just hope their next is a lot more risky than their last.
1. Radiohead
(Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, In Rainbows)
My friend Bill put it best about Radiohead. Every album they've released has been the best record a band could possibly release at the time. Following their remarkable OK Computer, regarded by many as one of if not the best rock album of a generation, Radiohead faced a tough assignment. How do you follow up a masterpiece?
No problem, Radiohead would do it again with Kid A (and its companion piece, Amnesiac), a mind-blowing blend of electronic gargles and rock blasts set against the theme of techno alienation that set a new tone and a new standard for indie rock. This they followed with two amazing rock albums: Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows could both be placed in a top 20 of the decade.
It's worrisome that the band's front man, Thom Yorke, has been telling interviewers lately that he doesn't think Radiohead could live through recording another full-length album. The band is still together, but is In Rainbows the end of its brilliant line of LPs? Lets hope not. They are, without a doubt, the best rock band of not only the last 10, but the last 20 years.
But I don't have time to list 200 albums, so I thought I'd do something a little different and list who I think are the top 10 acts for the decade that is a few months from drawing to a close. My prerequisites: They released acclaimed works in the decade and are still, at the decade's close, an existing venture, a band or artist that we can suspect has more to offer. I also don't have much interest in building up an obscure band. I think great bands are measured not only by their art but their influence and you can't be too influential if you're completely obscure.
My method was one part scientific (I asked friends what they thought) and another part proudly subjective -- these are artists and bands I think are terrific, but for which I don't necessarily see that many share my enthusiasm. Perhaps it would be better called a favorite list, not a best of list.
Also, this is primarily a "rock list" I don't listen to dance music anymore and I don't listen to hip hop or pop much anymore, either. New country? Never. There's only so much time in the day...
10. Ray LaMontagne
(Trouble, Till the Sun Turns Black, Gossip in the Grain)
I like singer songwriters, and have gone through periods where I favor acoustic guitar to anything else. But there are few who I feel offer much more than revamped '60s sons and campfire fare.
Ray La Montagne can certainly be accused of some of these things -- he has his moments of sounding positively like an early '70s throwback -- but of all the singer songwriters I've heard, his songs and his performance of those songs are matchless. The voice, the dark, personal and nearly impenetrable lyrics -- all contribute to a sound that is ancient yet fresh at the same time.
And his story is remarkable, too. In 1999, at the age of 25, LaMontagne was working in a shoe factory in Lewiston, Maine when he awoke to his alarm clock playing Steven Stills' "Treetop Flyer." He decided to quit his job, sold a van for an acoustic guitar began shopping a 10-song demo. After playing around at various folk gigs, he was signed to RCA and recorded his debut, Trouble in two weeks with producer Ethan Johns, who also joins LaMontagne on tour as a drummer.
LaMontagne is not a trend setter, but he does what he does better than anyone I've heard this decade.
9. Drive By Truckers
(Southern Rock Opera, Decoration Day, The Dirty South, A Blessing and a Curse, Brighter than Creation's Dark)
There's nothing progressive about southern rock, but the Drive By Truckers, manages to take the sounds and attitude of Lynard Skynard and Hank Williams and lend it a sonic attack that owes more to Sonic Youth than .38 Special. They can be beautifully quiet but can also whip up a three-guitar howl unlike any other.
For a group that debuted as a decidedly more country-flavored band with the not very well titled Gangstabilly, the 2000s have been a great -- and prolific -- year for the Georgia quintet. One of the band's strengths has long been the fact that it is not a vehicle for a single songwriter. Guitarists Partterson Hood and Mike Cooley split most of the songs and the lead vocals, and the two have let their sidemen like Jason Isbell who left to go solo (and create much less interesting music) and current bassist Shonna Tucker share songwriting and vocal duties.
Because of that team approach, each album they've put out in the last decade is packed with terrific songs. And the songs are not pop fare. There are character sketches of infamous southern icons, everyday losers and drug users. They write about poverty, war and survival.
The Truckers have managed to take southern rock, as both a musical foundation and a theme, and make it sound brand new. It's not a schtick, it's great music.
8. The White Stripes
(De Stijl, White Blood Cells, Elephant, Get Behind Me Satan, Icky Thump)
I have a love/hate relationship with this band.
When I first heard DeStijl in a friend's car in San Francisco, I couldn't believe my ears. Whoever was playing drums was terrible. The playing was so bad, I couldn't duplicate it if I tried. Time went by and the Stripes got bigger and bigger. Soon I found I couldn't resist the early singles "Fell in Love With a Girl" and "Hotel Yorba." The White Stripes started a charge of garage and punk bands at the time, but managed to stay creatively ahead of the pack on subsequent albums.
I still feel sometimes that the White Stripes are a lot more about style than substance and that Jack White is not much more than a museum curator who will soon run out of ways to repackage Zeppelin riffs and three-chord mandolin folk pieces. This is certainly true of his recent side projects, particularly the dreadful Dead Weather. Still, their influence on this decade is indisputable.
And I have to give credit to Jack and Meg. You can take any one of their albums, turn up as loud as your ears can take it and it sounds awesome. What more can you ask of a rock band?
7. The Doves
(Lost Souls, The Last Broadcast, Some Cities, Kingdom of Rust)
I've long been a fan of British indie rock. Though I wasn't an adherent of the Stone Roses and never could figure out Oasis, I loved Blur, Radiohead ad am really impressed with newer bands like The Viels, Reverend and the Makers, The Magic Numbers and, yes, The Arctic Monkeys, too. The best of the pack for me, though (Radiohead excluded) is The Doves.
A Manchester trio that got its start in dance music but moved to indie rock when their studio burned down just before the decade began, the Doves have cranked out four albums in the last 10 years that have blended Radiohead's space rock sound with a much more pop-grounded sensibility in line with their Britpop contemporaries, like Coldplay.
But while Coldplay has gone for arena-filling bombast, the Doves have stuck to great songwriting and sound experimentation -- they mix rushing guitars with ambient keys and can move seamlessly from country-inspired stomps to droning guitar atmospherics -- that, in my opinion, makes them the most compelling English band this side of, well, Radiohead. Each album they've released manages to be better than the last, too as they add layers and sounds and more great songs. Their most recent Kingdom of Rust, released in January of this year, remains my favorite album of '09.
I really feel the Doves are criminally underrated. They've debuted twice at number one in their homeland so perhaps its just a matter of time before they catch on here. I won't hold my breath.
6. Neko Case
(Furnace Room Lullaby, Blacklisted, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Middle Cyclone)
Neko Case started out as something of a Canadian Americana act. (She's not Canadian, but that seems to be where her early career "took off.") She's also been a member of the New Pornographers during the last decade, but where she has really shined is as a solo artist, beginning with Blacklisted and following with two equally superb albums, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, and The Middle Cyclone.
On these records Case approaches American folk music from its darkest themes (death, lust, jealousy and the random cruelty of nature) and adds something all her own. No one else could have pulled off a song from the perspective of a lovesick tornado ("This Tornado Loves You" from Middle Cyclone). Layered with wild lyrics about spirit foxes, dead lovers and teenage fantasy, Case approaches her songs sonically with lots of reverb and plenty of oddball hooks. Her music is spooky and mesmerizing. It's distinctly American.
On a side note, I'm aware as I write this that Case is the only female artist/band leader that occurred to me in compiling this list. That female acts are not as prominent in indie rock in the 2000s is pretty puzzling. It's definitely something that bears more reflection. Perhaps in a future post here.
5. Interpol
(Turn on the Bright Lights, Antics, Our Love to Admire)
I was late to the Interpol appreciation party. I really liked the first record's sound -- the reverbed but funky guitars, the amazing rhythm work, particularly the loping melodic bass playing of Carlos Dengler, but I couldn't take large doses of Paul Banks' flat vocals.
I have since gotten over that problem and have really come to enjoy the band's work. There is something about Interpol's arrangements that are really cinematic in scope. The sound the band produces is rhythmically bouncy, somewhat dance-y, but the guitars can provide an awesome dark wall of sound or chink away in a funk rythm. Songs like "Say Hello to the Angels" and "Obstacle 2" from ...Bright Lights enjoyed all these qualities. And though most feel their first is their best, I think their sound only expanded on the followup, Antics, an album that enjoys more variety of mood and a richer sonic palette than Turn no the Bright Lights.
And although 2007's Our Love to Admire didn't get the critical kudos of Bright Lights, it contains great songs. The single "Heinrich Maneuver" is as good as any they've recorded. Love is a step backwards from Antics, but it's a step backwards from two amazing albums. There's no reason to doubt that Interpol has a lot of good material left in them.
4. Kings of Leon
(Youth and Young Manhood, Aha Shake Heartbreak, Because of the Times, Only by the Night)
Theirs is the kind of story a fiction writer might have a hard time concocting. Once a group of scraggly brothers and one cousin, who played support for their fundamentalist revival preacher father Ivan, the Fallowills have risen from a band of Nashville nobodies to become the "Biggest Band in the World" in less than 10 years.
Or it least seems like the Kings are the biggest band in the world. They started as a band known best for "Molly's Chambers" off their debut Youth and Young Manhood because of its placement in a clever Volkswagon commercial. But that was in 2003. This year, no rock song has received more airplay than "Use Somebody" followed closely by "Sex on Fire" off the polished Only by the Night.
Aside from the hype and the band's new turn as an arena band to rival U2, the raucous roots rockers who came up on the tails of the garage rock revival spurred by the White Stripes and Strokes developed their own, whip-tight and almost urbane sound that was completely perfected by their third album, Because of the Times, which is by far the band's best. Nurtured by a tour with U2, the band's rhythm section -- Nate and Jared -- has become one of the best in rock, Caleb's voice has become huge and Matt's lead guitar playing is tremendous. Those qualities, paired with the right indie look (packaging is everything -- no one was going to fall in love with these guys when they all sported mullets and mustaches) and the wild back-story has made this band one that may with us as long as a U2 or even the Rolling Stones.
3. Arcade Fire
(Funeral, Neon Bible)
There's something to be said for art that keeps the observer or the audience off balance. From the first moments you hear the Canadian band Arcade Fire, you are not only off balance, you can scarcely believe what you're hearing.
From the opening of "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," the first song on Funeral: an organ swells, a piano begins to pound and strings quickly join in while what sounds like a toy piano twitters in the background and a guitar and bass join the piano in a throbbing rhythm. Next Wim Butler's enters with that voice -- it's in the vein of David Byrne and Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock -- and he's singing about digging a tunnel "From my window to yours," the drums catch up and Arcade Fire in those first moments of the first album announced a rock sound unlike anything you've ever heard -- a blend of Indie rock and Parisian cinema soundtrack.
This is a band that can sometime swell to 10 members who will play everything from traditional rock instruments -- guitars, bass and drums -- to xylophones, harps, french horns and even a hurdy gurdy. It's a big, wild sound but one that doesn't lose the terrific songcraft at the heart of Arcade Fire's work. This ain't no world music band. It's a real honest-to-God indie rock band with a terrific sound and brilliant songs.
I'm hard pressed to name a band that is clearly influenced by Arcade Fire, though Beirut comes to mind. But that is likely more a function of how far ahead of the rest of us these Montrealers are. If you couldn't figure these guys out at first, give them another chance. It's well worth it.
2. Wilco
(Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, A Ghost is Born, Sky Blue Sky, Wilco the Album)
First a qualifier: I like Wilco but I'm not sure they would have made this list had it not been for Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I know, that statement is a lot like saying you don't think the Beach Boys would be all that great without Pet Sounds. But I wonder if this band's work without the accomplishment of YHF (for short) would seem so grand...
YHF is one of the great masterpieces of the last generation in rock, an album that started the decade with an inspired bang. It was a statement album from a band that had already veered pleasingly from the beaten path of its alt country roots with 1999's Summerteeth. YHF blew even those expectations away. It was a brilliant album that drew from the same psych pop stew as Sumerteeth but its songs were reconstructed in provocative arrangements (thanks to Jim O'Rourke) and set a new standard for American indie music.
Since then, Wilco has done a really good job of keeping its fan base guessing. There's few other bands that will keep music fans on the edge of their seats ever time a new album comes out. Wilco has managed to beguile us all, extending the experimentation with A Ghost is Born before settling back on the lovely, quiet Sky Blue Sky.
I have to admit that I remain disappointed by this year's Wilco the Album -- "Wilco the Song) and "Bull Black Nova" are great tunes -- but I'm hoping some subsequent listening will let the record grow on me some more. Still, Wilco has been a compelling band that deserves a lot of credit for not letting itself get too comfortable and for taking terrific risks. I just hope their next is a lot more risky than their last.
1. Radiohead
(Kid A, Amnesiac, Hail to the Thief, In Rainbows)
My friend Bill put it best about Radiohead. Every album they've released has been the best record a band could possibly release at the time. Following their remarkable OK Computer, regarded by many as one of if not the best rock album of a generation, Radiohead faced a tough assignment. How do you follow up a masterpiece?
No problem, Radiohead would do it again with Kid A (and its companion piece, Amnesiac), a mind-blowing blend of electronic gargles and rock blasts set against the theme of techno alienation that set a new tone and a new standard for indie rock. This they followed with two amazing rock albums: Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows could both be placed in a top 20 of the decade.
It's worrisome that the band's front man, Thom Yorke, has been telling interviewers lately that he doesn't think Radiohead could live through recording another full-length album. The band is still together, but is In Rainbows the end of its brilliant line of LPs? Lets hope not. They are, without a doubt, the best rock band of not only the last 10, but the last 20 years.
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