20:09, Part 2: Albums

It's that time of year where music bloggers and publications post their picks for the best music of the past twelve months. I'm just following the crowd. As a gimmick to force me to narrow down my selections, I'm presenting my list in the form of the nine (09) best albums and songs. Go here for the songs. Below are the albums:

:09) The Devin Townsend Project - Addicted

Devin Townsend has always been on the fringe of what I tend to like in a metal band, but somehow he manages to impress me where similar artists bore me, or worse, make me laugh. I'd given up on him after a so-so latest release from his full-time band, Strapping Young Lad, but I'm glad I gave Addicted a shot. With Swedish-style industrial pop tracks like these, it should be easy to see why “HevyDevy” and I are on good terms again.

:08) The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

At War With the Mystics is what happens when the Flaming Lips try to sound like the Flaming Lips. Embryonic is what happens when the band goes balls to the wall and see where it gets them. I like that Flaming Lips much better. This album starts off sounding like 70's krautrock mixed with Kid A-era Radiohead, and goes all over the place from there. Sometimes their experiments prove unsuccessful (take the annoying “I Can Be a Frog”...please*rimshot*), but for the most part, everything works, and works together to create what should be remembered as one of the best albums of their career.

:07) Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights

Maybe the most amazing thing about Lightning Bolt is that I've yet to grow tired of them. What we basically have here is a band with about 1.5 songs repeated ad nauseum, spread across a ten year career and (now) 5 albums. But maybe I just find it hard to be super critical of a band who is constantly doing this to my face:

Earthly Delights came after a four year hiatus and they haven't missed a beat. Still melting faces.

:06) Dälek - Gutter Tactics

Dälek are like that friend you don't always like to hang out with because all they ever wanna do is talk radical politics. Oh sure, the conversation starts with your new kitten, but before you know it, it ends up with how the government plans to use the microchips implanted in pets to emit a mind control signal that will expel minorities from America. Good thing the music is so damn good. DJ Oktopus seems to mature with every new album, and this is his darkest, most consistent, and overall strongest effort yet. To give credit where it's due, MC Dälek's doomy lyrics fit the mood, and his thoughts are often passionate, well-researched, and perhaps agreeable. But...damn dude, can we just talk about kittens for a minute?

:05) Converge - Axe To Fall

I've figured it out: Converge are not human. They look human, but that's just a ruse. Any bit of human they may have one point had in them belongs to a power far more sinister. They've sold their souls for rock and roll, which has given them an uncanny level of stamina that allows them to thrive at a pace that would've destroyed other hardcore bands. What's more impressive is that Axe To Fall is what most people consider a “weak” Converge record. This does not bode well for their hardcore peers.

:04) The Mars Volta - Octahedron

A funny thing happened in 2009: the Mars Volta made their comeback record; only many of those who might have cared have long since given up on the band. Octahedron is the album many people thought they no longer had in them: a shorter, straightforward album that significantly trims down on the elongated prog-rock passages they've indulged in as of late and brings back the hooks. This is what people wanted to hear after De-loused In The Comatorium, and after six years, they finally have it. Better late than never, right?

:03) Mastodon - Crack The Skye

Let's take notice of a few things working against Crack The Skye: 1) it's Mastodon's most progressive and indulgent album yet (which is saying something). 2) It's a concept album in which the concept sounds like it was written while on acid, at 4AM, by a monkey that has been trained to type. 3) The lead singer was a douchebag before the band found success and is an even bigger douchebag now that they've made it kind of big. 4) The band were coming off their weakest album to date in Blood Mountain, and many thought they'd only go downhill from there. And now here they are with a collection of songs that can't seem to decide which riff it wants to settle upon and it still manages to be among the best things to come out of 2009. Though the lead singers' massive ego needs to be deflated a little, I can't find reason to do so after listening to this album. The most hyped metal release of the year totally deserves it.

:02) maudlin of the Well - Part the Second

I really want to hate this band. Look at those fucking song titles (“Another Excerpt: Keep Light Near You, Even When Dying”, and “Laboratories of the Invisible World (Rollerskating the Cosmic Palmistric Postborder)”, to name two)! Look at that fucking all-lower-case-except-the-last-word band name! Look at that fucking haircut! Anyone who's been exposed to Toby Driver's music has figured out that he's frustratingly pretentious, but goddammit if he doesn't strike gold sometimes. On Part the Second, he strikes five times. Yeah, the pretense is still abundant in the music, but these melodies do too good of a job calming the part of me that wants to punch him in the face.

:01) Ancestors - Of Sound Mind

The lead guitarist of this band found a review I wrote of this album and personally thanked me for my kind words. I could speak about his act being humble, but when you're as overlooked and unknown as this band is, humility has yet to enter the picture. I could spend most of this space speaking of how criminally overlooked this record has been, but when it all comes down to it, I'm not that surprised. A little-known psych rock/doom metal band channels 70's progressive rock and records an album full of 12-17 minute epics? Not the kind of thing that's going pique the interest of a press stuck on the discussion of where Merriweather Post Pavilion ranks among the best of the decade. Oh well, that's their loss. I have little hesitation in calling Of Sound Mind a modern classic. I can only hope that time will earn this album the more widespread praise that it deserves.

20:09, Part 1: Songs

It's that time of year where music bloggers and publications post their picks for the best music of the past twelve months. I'm just following the crowd. As a gimmick to force me to narrow down my selections, I'm presenting my list in the form of the nine (09) best albums and songs. Below are the songs:

:09) “Hand of the Host” by Isis
I've sort of tired of Isis' repetitive song structures lately, but when done well enough, it can still make for some infectious music. As this song demonstrates, the band's predictability doesn't always ruin the listen experience.



:08) “Gutter Tactics” by Dälek
How to describe this? It's like an industrial flavored doom/sludge metal shoegaze track but with rapping, except it doesn't suck nearly as much as it sounds like it should.



:07) “Isis Unveiled” by ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
Sometimes Trail of Dead can overwhelm themselves with the amount of bombast they throw into some of their songs. But every once in a while, you get songs like “Isis Unveiled” that strike a perfect balance and destroy without destroying the song in the process. Completely epic, this one.



:06) “Anonanimal” by Andrew Bird
Honestly, I often find singer/songwriter music to be a little boring, but I'm glad I gave Andrew Bird a shot after years of ignoring him. This song combines violin melodies with post-punk guitar and acrobatic word play, which is like automatic win in my eyes.



:05) “Abdul Alhazred's Anxiety” by Bird From The Abyss
Sometimes you can hear the first 30-seconds of a song and just know that it was tailor made to your tastes. This is a creepy experimental track with Eastern-style instrumentation, therefore bound to be one of my favorite songs of the year.



:04) “Gorgon” by Natural Snow Buildings
Part of the reason “Gorgon” is so striking is because of it's placement on the album. Following a 24-minute heavy, daunting drone, this song comes out of nowhere and this delicate voice serenades you. It's like the aftermath of some terrible disaster, letting you know that, in the end, shit's gonna be alright.



:03) “Fields of Coal” by ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead
I'm breaking my own rule by putting two songs from the same album on this list, but when I thought about it, I couldn't honestly say that there were many other songs this year better than both "Isis Unveiled" and “Fields of Coal”. This is a monumental anthem that seems to express the joys of youth so well that I have a hard time believing it was recorded by a band in their 30's.



:02) “Laboratories of the Invisible World (Rollerskating the Cosmic Palmistric Postborder)” by maudlin of the Well
The title of this song alone is almost pretentious enough for me to hate it. In fact, if it weren't such a great song I'd probably talk shit about it. But honestly, this song got me through the month of August. The most moving 11+ minutes of music I've heard this year.




:01) “Bounty of Age” by Ancestors
Nearly 14-minutes of bliss. “Bounty of Age” achieves the notable feat of getting more badass every 2-3 minutes. Take a bluesy opening baseline, add a psychedelic guitar solo, super down-tuned chugs, megaphone vocal effects à la Outkast's “Da Art of Storytellin' pt 2”, a church organ solo, and a fast section with tag-team vocals, and you've got the recipe for song of the motherfucking year.

High Ate Us

(view of Himeji-jo from near my new home)

I'm bringing this blog out of hiatus, much to the cheer and fanfare of no one but myself (but that's okay). If there does happen to be anyone reading this, I'll explain further.

The difference between this post in my last one is that I'm writing this one from my apartment in Japan, where I've been living for the past four months. I moved here for the same reason a lot of foreigners come here: to work as an assistant language teacher in Japanese public high schools. I've had this move on the agenda for quite some time, but was hesitant to write about it on a public forum for fear of being found out before telling my employer in the states that I planned on quitting. Perhaps it was just paranoia, but in a bad economy where jobs were being cut, I'd rather not have given them any reason to consider letting me go before I was ready, when I was relying on those paychecks to prepare for my wife and I's big move. But I told them with enough time in advance to transition smoothly and leave on good terms, so all is well.

The Future of What? Xoxobra...
Since moving to Japan, I've began putting a lot of time into the research of the Japanese music, especially the hip-hop scene. Why Japanese hip-hop? Well, pretty much because I knew nothing about it and was curious. Essential in my research has been reading Ian Condry's 2006 book Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization, which, as far as I know right now, is the definitive introduction into the genre and its relatively short history. While I don't plan on going to the lengths that he did for his research, I do plan on providing some reviews and insight on the differences/similarities between the American and Japanese hip-hop scenes and the general perception/acceptance of black culture in Japan from my point-of-view (which is all I really can do), and hopefully that's interesting enough.

I'll still review non-Japan related stuff, of course, but for the most part, due to my surroundings, this blog will likely just be another fish in the sea of Japan-centric music blogs (removing it from the even bigger sea of general music blogs).

The Reason for My Return
Mainly, because I'm finally starting to get my head straight and get settled. I've been so busy with school and adjusting to my new life that I could barely even remember to call my family at times, so trying to maintain a blog was just kind of out of the question. But I've still been writing, and I've got enough of a handle on things to begin putting more attention to hobbies and all that other shit.

That, and because it's December and I have a music blog, and as such a person I wouldn't be able to stand it if I didn't post a year-end list or two. It's required. It's in mah blood. So that's coming up soon enough.

For those who have for some reason maintained interest in this blog, thanks. Here's a short introduction to Japanese hip-hop by way of Rhymester, one of the leaders of Japan's underground J-rap scene, who also don the cover of Hip-Hop Japan.



"AB・A・O・B" by Rhymester