so, way back in March 2012, i made this mix, like you do, standard recent-listening favorites springtime selection. (mostly nascent 2k12 tracks, and a few k11 holdovers – mayer hawthorne, big troubles, the embassy, herman düne – that somehow managed not to make it into my massive year-end mix flurry.) i made one version of it (below) and then i made another rejiggered version of it (slightly less below) that mostly kept the perky poppy beginning and the smoove slinky soulful ending and most of the big rocky riffage in between, but cut out that nasty scandinavian techno stuff that nobody actually likes besides me (and james murphy), swapped out a couple of songs for others by the same artists probably for reasons of flow and space (and title alignment) that are now mysterious even to me, and that's the version (i think) that i slipped into people's mailboxes just pre-spring break, sorta like i used to do back the last time i was in school.
and now here are the track lists, long after the fact. still good stuff, and a good snapshot of what was in my ears around that time (it's so interesting to me how particular musical-moments can take such particular flavors...this one's...sort of orangey maybe? definitely bright, a little goofy but also comfy and homey.)
the title, to which i made a silly self-referential allusion that nobody probably could have gotten in the title of a pre-sxsw post roughly contemporary with the mix itself, comes from the magical mystery mouth of elsa, as does the theoretical title of a theoretical companion piece (should i ever deign to actually make it), "the land of barely anything." i have absolutely no recollection what she was talking about.
ok here you go:
Baby Steps to Nowhere
1. Gotye: "In Your Light"
2. Asteroids Galaxy Tour: "Suburban Space Invader"
3. The 2 Bears: "Time In Mind"
4. Lana Del Rey: "Diet Mt. Dew"
5. Allo Darlin': "Europe"
6. The Embassy: "You Tend To Forget"
7. The Magnetic Fields: "Andrew in Drag"
8. Mayer Hawthorne: "Hooked"
9. Explorer's Club: "Anticipatin'"
10. Hospitality: "Eighth Avenue"
11. Retribution Gospel Choir: "Feel It, Superior"
12. Free Energy: "Electric Fever"
13. Big Troubles: "Misery"
14. Veronica Falls: "Misery"
15. New Build: "Misery Loves Company"
16. Foxy Shazam: "Holy Touch"17. Honeychurch: "Tennessee Valley"
18. Frank Ocean: "We All Try"
19. Jamie Woon: "Street"
20. John Talabot ft. Pional: "Destiny"
21. Escort: "Makeover"
22. Terranova: "Question Mark"
23: Herman Düne: "Tell Me Something I Don't Know"
(Baby Steps to) Baby Steps to Nowhere [step one]
1. Gotye: "In Your Light"
2. Asteroids Galaxy Tour: "Suburban Space Invader"
3. The 2 Bears: "Time In Mind"
4. Lana Del Rey: "Diet Mt. Dew"
5. Retribution Gospel Choir: "Feel It, Superior"
6. Free Energy: "Electric Fever"
7. Veronica Falls: "Steven"
8. The Embassy: "You Tend To Forget"
9. Todd Terje: "Mr. Norse"
10. Lindstrøm: "A Quiet Place To Live"
11. The Magnetic Fields: "Goin' Back To The Country"
12. Mayer Hawthorne: "Finally Falling"
13. Explorer's Club: "Anticipatin'"
14. Foxy Shazam: "Holy Touch"
15. Big Troubles: "Misery"
16. Honeychurch: "Tennessee Valley"
17. Frank Ocean: "We All Try"
18. Jamie Woon: "Street"
19. John Talabot ft. Pional: "Destiny"
20. Escort: "Makeover"
21. Terranova: "Question Mark"
22. Allo Darlin': "Some People Say"
bonus track list for another mix, from around the same time (actually, probably, around february 14th), drawing from mostly the same pool of material, which i actually kind of like better. it's a love mix i made for elsa, a happy light-hearted love mix (though not without its share of sweet realism) which is not the easiest thing to come by mind you, and it feels pretty great. there are some strikingly beautiful (as well as topical) songs here, tops maybe honeychurch and jens (along with mayer and herman) but nothing better than the simply amazing "church" by the 2 bears, which could well be the best song of the year, certainly has some of the greatest couplets:
<<i love your pretty face and your sweet determination//i love your body too, let's mate and make a nation>>
(and in tribute to which i titled this (did i really?)):
Love is Lovely
1. The 2 Bears, "Church"
2. Beyoncé, "Lay Up Under Me"
3. Escort, "A Sailboat in the Moonlight"
4. Jazmine Sullivan, "Love You Long Time"
5. Miguel, "Sure Thing"
6. Kings Go Forth, "High On Your Love"
7. Jens Lekman, "So This Guy At My Office..."
8. Andrew Rose Gregory, "Your Love Is Better Than Wine"
9. Devon Sproule, "I Love You, Go Easy"
10. Lana Del Rey, "The Lucky Ones"
11. Drake ft. Rihanna, "Take Care"
12. Joe Goddard, "All I Know" (Radio Edit)
13. Kurt Vile, "Baby's Arms"
14. Honeychurch, "Miko II"
15. Real Estate, "Municipality"
16. Herman Düne, "Lay Your Head On My Chest"
17. Mayer Hawthorne, "You Called Me"
18. Gotye, "I Feel Better"
19. Foxy Shazam, "I Wanna Be Yours"
20. Explorer's Club, "Go For You"
21. Xylos, "Darling Dearest"
22. Acid House Kings, "I Just Called To Say Jag Älskar Dig"
20 September 2012
here, now, is nowhere
02 May 2012
SXSW 2012: Saturday
Justin Townes Earle, 1pm, Austin Convention Center Day Stage
In the interest of taking some advantage of the industry "trade show" part of the conference – in the convention center, where only really special people with badges (like me) are allowed – I rushed to try to catch an interview session with Norwegian hitmakers StarGate (the guys behind "Irreplaceable," "Firework" and about half of Rihanna's hits.) But it was cancelled. So instead I sat in on a couple of random panel sessions with assorted industry types talking about industry stuff (mobile apps, clickthrough conversions, the cloud, listening to N*SYNC in their car in high school...)
And then I wandered into a set by this Nashville songwriter guy – I'd heard the name, but don't they all have names like that? – which was phenomenal. Just, very obviously, the real deal: deft fingerpicking acoustic blues, richly gritty voice, witty poignant wryly observational songwriting, all that good stuff. Also, he has impossibly long legs. Put me in mind of Townes van Zandt (whom he reverentially quoted at one point) or a young Springsteen, but most of all Steve Earle. Come to find out, just now: Steve's his dad. Duh.
Beat Connection, 2pm, Hype Hotel
I came to Hype Hotel – magical blog-sponsored land of free vodka, free (well, for tips) chair massages and free weird, nasty Taco Bell tacos made out of Doritos (and also normal soft tacos, which I'm sheepish to report accounted for about 80% of my food intake today) – to see the super neat Canadian future-electro-pop duo New Look (one of six "New ____" artists listed in the booklet, though that's nothing next to the twelve "Young ___"s, plus three "Yung"s.) But apparently they were never even in Austin. So I got this extremely young-looking Seattle band instead. About what you'd expect from a band named after an LCD Soundsystem song, if on the sunnier end of that spectrum. Ironically, their beats were kind of disconnected – there were some issues with drummer/drum machine sync. Also their lyrics were lame. Pass.
THEESatisfaction, 2pm, Scoot Inn
Way more like it. Two-woman hip-hop tag-team (how often does that happen? does that ever happen?) and Shabazz Palaces besties, from "the top left," as they said. Similar arty/smarty vibe to Shabazz, but much less psych-addled and esoteric; way more accessible, melody-conscious, and just plain fun – hitting a tricky sweet spot between way-cooler-than-you'll-ever-be, don't-give-a-fuck detachment and casual, off-the-cuff relatability. Sweet moves (and afro) too.
Roach Gigz, 2:30pm, Scoot Inn
Before I had a chance to slip out, this hoodied San Francisco rapper dude bum-rushed the stage and commanded my absolute attention for a solid fifteen minutes (no small feat considering habitually ADD-prone SXSW mentality.) I don't think I've ever seen a rapper so dynamic in a literal, physically, kinetic sense – he didn't stop moving for an instant. And his constant, pro forma appeals for attention/energy/love from the crowd felt unusually deserved, and reciprocated.
SBTRKT, 2:15pm, Fader Fort
Just caught the tail, but then again it's just a couple guys with machines. Anyway, solid. "Wildfire" is a total jam. The "tribal" masks kind of looked like they were made from paper plates.
Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire, 3pm, Fader Fort
I don't know what the hell just happened, but suddenly he (and full entourage of maybe eight dudes) was in the middle of the crowd, about two feet away from me, inciting general ruckus and spilling whiskey all over the place. Got some sweet photos. I think this was like a twelve-minute set.
Deerhoof, 3pm, 1100 Warehouse
Sure, why not! Who doesn't love a good Deerhoof? They bashed and popped and did their crazy, inimitable thing. They did that "panda panda panda" song, and then Busdriver jumped on stage and rapped really really fast on top of it. Delicious!
2:54, 3:30pm, 1100 Warehouse
"Dark" rock. "Atmospheric." Whatever. Maybe if it wasn't the middle of the afternoon.
Main Attraktionz, 3:45pm, Scoot Inn
More Bay Area hip-hop (Oakland, in this case), of a somewhat woozier, snoozier variety. There were a lot of people on stage but I think the actual Attraktionz were the two guys standing on top of something up front: one bearded, shirtless, skinny white guy and one black guy with a shirt on, who spent the whole time with their arms around each others' shoulders. Which was very sweet. They seemed to lack some self-confidence though...they kept asking the crowd who was coming on next (it was Kreayshawn), and then they asked "So, are we aiiight?' ...or are we good." Um. I gave the polite response, but the jury's still out.
Tanlines, 4:00pm, 1100 Warehouse
Tanlines are dears, and their new record is solid (or, at least, the single is.) But Tanlines are all about treble (abnormally, for a dance act, but they pull it off well) and the acoustics of the Mess With Texas 1100 Warehouse is all about bassy bassy bass. So that's a fail. Plus, all their songs sound the same (or, at least, the one and a half that I stayed for did.)
I guess these guys are even buzzier than I realized. ("Justin Vernon's favorite band!!") Well, they are good. Possibly much better than good, I couldn't quite tell. I wish I'd gotten here sooner, as it took a while to get inside (partly for shaved-ice-related reasons); what had sounded from outside like very pretty, mellow chill-out/trip-hop music emerged or developed into something much rockier and more energetic once I'd wormed up to the side of the stage for the end of the set. They have two drummers, for one thing. Basically it seemed cool, but I'm going to have to spend some time with the record to fully decide.
Polarsets, 5:00pm, Cive Bar
Only maybe the fifth entire set I've seen at SX, and the first time I got bored doing so. (Though not unpleasantly so.) This is a very nice-seeming young trio from Newcastle, England, who play sunny, tropical-ish indie-dance-pop – a la Friendly Fires or Tanlines or St. Lucia – but with more of a lyrical/song-based (though not necessarily melody/hook-based) focus. Not that I really caught any lyrics, though the song titles included "Tropics" and "Sunshine Eyes," so that probably gives you an idea. The lead singer has an improbably high, interestingly-textured voice that reminded me very much of somebody – Chris Martin, maybe?
Felt some SX guilt for deciding to see this, and sticking around so long for it (other options included catching the awesome, food-obsessed rapper Action Bronson, or a maybe over-ambitious third attempt at Grimes) – since I have seen of Montreal plenty of times, though not in ages. But whatever. It was great to be in a crowd full of fans, just there to see one of their favorite bands play a concert. This was a seriously of Montreal-loving crowd – they sang along to every word, fist-pumped every beat, and half of them were dressed as crazy and colorfully as the band themselves. (Another half were of course wearing green for, as Best Coast called it later on, St. Party's Day.)
And it was a seriously crowd-pleasing set: nothing but hits, or more specifically nothing from outside of their 2005-2007 apex of popularity. They kicked off with the two big ones from The Sunlandic Twins ("The Party's Crashing Us" and "Wraith Pinned To The Mist"), and the rest of the set was entirely drawn from '07's Hissing Fauna..., including set-closing epic "The Past Is A Grotesque Animal," which ended with, first, guitarist BP Helium crowdsurfing, and then his guitar crowdsurfing by itself, being "played" by the whole audience. Personally, I'd have loved to hear at least some of their more recent stuff, but I was probably a minority there. (Nobody does encores at SXSW, but it's hard to imagine a crowd more doggedly insistent in their clamoring for one. I pitched in with the mini-cowbell I had picked up earlier in the day – inventive swag this year!)
Rittz/Gangsta Boo/Stalley, 7:00pm, Fader Fort
Dinner might have been wise, but the mystery of the 8:00 Fader Fort "special guest" (the characteristically wild rumors swirling included Drake, which, basically, I would have died) not to mention my handy-dandy badge-carrying ability to bypass a monster line outside the bulging venue, were just a bit too tempting. When the outrageously red-haired speed-rapper Rittz (who sounded like an angrier Yelawolf) and former Three 6 Mafiosa/Yelawolf co-sign Gangsta Boo showed up for brief sets in the 7:00 "TBA" slot, I was figuring it was gonna be Eminem (who'd turned up the previous night at 50 Cent's Austin Musical Hall show.) But then Stalley, the self-described "newest" member of Maybach Music took the stage, and stayed on the stage, and stayed on the stage – his beard may be, on a technical level, more impressive than Rick Ross's, but it's nowhere near as lovably iconic or charismatic – and it became clear that, once he finally left, we would be graced with the presence of...
Rick Ross, 8:15pm, Fader Fort
Yep. This happened. Totally ridiculous, totally awesome. Couldn't see half the time because of all the cameras/phones in the air, but I had worked my way maybe three-quarters of the way to the stage by this point, and the energy in the crowd was just delirious. Early in the set, after a couple cuts from his recent mixtape, he whipped through four massive hits ("Hustlin," "All I Do Is Win," "B.M.F.", "I'm On One") in the space of fifteen minutes. I guess, just because he could?
Devon Sproule, 8:55pm, Austin Java
I can't actually tell you about this set, because I wasn't there. What I can tell you is that Devon Sproule is a wonderful wonderful songwriter and one of the most endearing and talented performers I've ever had the pleasure to see, and that I biked fifteen hilly minutes to a semi-remote part of town (well, far outside the SXSW hubbub anyway) to see her, only to learn that it was the wrong Austin Java location, and then, another twenty-plus minutes and some bad directions later, to the correct Austin Java location, where Devon had just finished her set and was loading the car. And I chatted a while with her also-charming, also-a-songwriter husband, Paul Currerri, who told me that they'd just moved to Austin (from Berlin) this week. So hopefully they'll be playing some more, better appointed and better publicized shows at future SXSWs, and hopefully then the (impressively comprehensive, but nevertheless fallible) Austin Showlist website will list the address correctly. (And/or I will remember double-check their info.)
Django Django, 10:00pm, Latitude 30
Buzzy Brits, playing to a sardine-packed room of badgers. Energetic, danceable, slightly synthy rock, with plenty of texture and personality...made me think of Hot Chip, XTC, and other bands I really like. Also, for some reason, their vocal harmonies reminded me a lot of the Dandy Warhols. Not all of the songs made an instant connection, but a few of them did, and I bet their album (if it exists yet) will be very worth hearing. They also had a really big tambourine.
Fanfarlo, 10:00pm, Hype Hotel
I've reviewed two Fanfarlo albums now, and I'm not sure I could recall any of their songs if you asked me to. But they're always perfectly enjoyable when I'm actually listening to them, and they really sounded fantastic live. Epic, anthemic – but somehow not affected or overblown – indie rock stuff, with trumpet and saxophone and violin and big blue lights. Plus, they were adorably Scottish and polite. Nice one.
Best Coast, 11:00pm, Hype Hotel
Bethany Cosentino as a person is as refreshingly straight-shooting and pretense-free as her music, which as she performs it live doesn't even come off as cutesy, just matter-of-fact: she wishes her cat could talk, okay? She made no bones about being pissed off by lame, unenthusiastic SXSW audiences, and asked us if we could just be cool and party with her, for a change. The crowd responded by demanding that she chug the cup of white whiskey she'd been making skeptical remarks about throughout the set. (Meanwhile her guitarist, silent Bobb Bruno, was tossing back a handle of Jim Beam.) She was almost apologetic about playing new songs ("four in a row, is that okay?") but they were some of the highlights of the set, even sandwiched between all the first album faves. (The forthcoming Best Coast album shows, to me, a marked step up in her songwriting and sound – I'm expecting some good things for her this year.)
Wavves, 12:00am, Hype Hotel
Then I got a chair massage from the very cool Kate, which was great except for when Wavves started playing partway through it.
Jacques Greene, 12:40am, Barcelona
SXSW really does not do electronic music well. I guess that's the USA for you. Montrealer Jacques Greene is probably doing as much as anybody these days to underscore the shared fabric of bass music (dubstep/funky/house/whatever) and R&B, and this DJ set was a beautiful illustration of that connection, encompassing everything from Jackmaster to Burial to Moloko's "Sing it Back" and Storm Queen's masterful 2011 soulful house epic "It Goes On," right alongside Waka Flocka Flame, a funky Destiny's Child remix, and Drake/The-Dream's "Shut It Down" (with Greene grinning and singing along to every word) – all in a tight, seamless forty-minute set, pretty much the most exciting, energetic set of dance music you could ask for. (Though as far as I could tell he didn't drop any of his own excellent productions.) But the venue was a cramped, anonymous basement bar, and the crowd, despite several pockets of serious, enthusiastic dancing, seemed inappropriately diffuse and indifferent, mostly hook-up-seeking locals and St. Party's Day revelers who just happened to be there.
Toddla T, 1:00am, Latitude 30
Around the corner, Toddla T seemed be on a similar tip in his DJ set, albeit more populist in his selections (while I was in there SBTRKT's "Wildfire" and Big Sean's "A$$.") Not quite the party I was looking for though.
XV, 1:00am, Hype Hotel
Was on my way to check Flosstradamus but got distracted and pleasantly side-tracked by a prominent Pixies sample blaring out of ye olde Hype Hotel (and, okay, I was running pretty low on tacos.) Such was my introduction to the very silly, young Wichita, KS (?!) rapper XV. Chipper, vaguely nerdy pop-rap, Chiddy Bang kind of thing. Mindless fun, and sure, why not, as his set-closing single has it, "Awesome." Or something.
Mujuice, 2:00am, Hype Hotel
Never heard of this guy either – I didn't even know who it was when he was playing, as it wasn't listed or anything. But I was pretty impressed by his music, which I was having a hard time slotting into any of the usual electronic-music subdivisions. Subtle, stylish, danceable. Apparently he's "one of the cornerstones of today’s Russian electronica." Okay, cool.
And that was SXSW 2012. Cruised around for awhile (both through the streets and on twitter) trying to track down an afterparty, but it seemed like things had pretty much wrapped up. Diplo was in New Orleans, Rick Ross was allegedly already back in Miami. And it ends, not with a bang, but a well-deserved sleep.
01 May 2012
SXSW 2012: Friday
escSpoek Mothambo 12:30 PM SPIN Party @ Stubbs
A friend hooked us up with passes to the hot-ticket Spin Magazine party, killer lineup but also an ideal, archetypal way to start a Southby day: free BBQ, free beer, free vodka, free weirdo space-age sugar-water. The highly amusing MC for the event ("Make some muthafucking tweets!") described this Sub Pop-signed South African rapper/artist/guy as "way cooler than you," which I guess is true on a technical level – and he did have a pretty fly jacket – but between us I think you're actually probably cooler. His set bounced around from post-punk to rap to electro-ish breaks in rather haphazard fashion, and was decent to dance to in spurts, but didn't leave much of a musical impression, except maybe his funked-up version of Joy Division's "She's Lost Control."
Dionnevox 1:00 PM @ Stubbs
From Seattle, playing this party because they won some sort of contest, but anyway they earned it, without a doubt. Nothing short of baroque in their approach to costuming, with a sort of dark fantasy steampunk burlesque look (summarized by the aforementioned MC as "if the movie Blade Runner were two attractive girls.") Lead singer lady stripped through about four distinct outfits over the course of the brief set, including a sequined harlequin bustier and black leather bodysuit with assorted diagonal zippers (she had to sit down on stage to fully remove that one), not to mention her elaborately made-up/bejeweled face and black feathered headpiece, while the dead-eyed dancer was equally striking in black and white lace tights, garter, striped faux-fur legwarmers and platforms. For some reason they didn't make the DJ/producer guys dress up at all; totally lame. Musically they followed a similar aesthetic – dark industrial electro-goth torch songs with low, deadpan vocals and solid songwriting. The standout was probably "Spoken Like a Slave," during which the singer lady repeatedly cracked her mic cord like a whip.
Escort 1:30 PM @ Stubbs
Stone killers. Escort is a fifteen-piece (at this show anyway) disco orchestra, largely composed of NYC studio pros (the drummer happens to be my cousin.) And they're perhaps the most ridiculously tight live act anywhere, not to mention the most fun. They're fronted by lanky French-African singer Adeline Michele, who's a total knockout and a sweet-smiling charmer – but really the whole band are just gorgeous to look at; about as diverse a collection of musicians as you could imagine sharing one stage. Too bad they're apparently too big a band to make touring economically plausible; there's a lot of folks out there who could use some of their pure, unadultered joy.
New Build 2:10 PM MWTX @ 1100 Warehouse
The latest in a recent string of unreasonably excellent Hot Chip side projects (following Alexis Taylor's About Group and Joe Goddard's 2 Bears – who just put out probably the party album of the decade), this group is spearheaded by guitarist Al Doyle (also of LCD Soundsystem) and drummer (in this group, bassist) Felix Martin, joined here by a Stop Making Sense-ish full band, including a killer timbale/steel pan player. With his shock of red hair and big scruffy beard, Doyle's a friendly, familiar figure from Hot Chip and LCD shows, and definitely a likable bloke, but he doesn't quite have the charisma to carry a performance like his other bands' inimitable frontmen. Or maybe this was just an atypically low-energy set – he admitted that they were exhausted, which was pretty clear to see. (And not a great sign considering they still had a bunch of shows to play.) Set-closer (and my current brain-ruling jam of the moment) "Misery Loves Company" riled up some dancing energy from the crowd, but it pretty much took that long.
Super cool, super hotly tipped electro-weird duo from Montreal (and Halifax, apparently); almost as fresh and original in their approach to performance as to their music. I.e.: very. Set against a simple. spare pink/green/orange backdrop, producer Corin Roddick triggered sounds by drumming on a complex arrangement of paper-lantern-like color-changing lamps, while Megan James twirled and whacked a mounted bass drum that lit up with every hit. As for the music – definitely done some sonic disservice in this overly loud and bassy setting, but potent nonetheless – it is deep; twitchy; voluptuous; alien; gorgeous. I normally hate this comparison, but I would describe James' vocals, particularly her way of drawing out and rounding her syllables, as legitimately Björk-like at points. Stunning.
Ok, this was kind of unexpected. Not knowing what I was getting myself in for, I boarded a bus with only about eight other people, bound for an (evidently, very) intimate performance by elusive, arty-electro wunderkind Jaar (or more specifically his new, jazz-tinted "Darkside" project.) It turned out be at a house somewhere a good ways from downtown, with an expansive yard complete with stone fireplace, rusty swing set and large chicken coop. The performance was to be intensively videotaped for an episode of Yours Truly (some web thingy which I don't entirely understand), but it took almost two hours to actually happen, during which time we chilled on the porch, watched the chickens, and enjoyed some nice Belgian blonde ales, pulled pork sliders, tater tots and champagne. Not exactly how I'd been planning to spend my afternoon, but hard to really complain...
And the performance, when it happened (in the garage; windows blacked out and adorned with colored fluorescent light-bars), really was something special – Jaar on Ableton loops, keys and multiple knobby controllers, along with a clearly jazz/improv-rooted guitarist and sax/keyboard player, all three of them immensely proficient musicians, more or less improvising extended elaborations on their recent EP tracks, and achieving a true, fluid fusion of electronic and live instrumentation in a way that was pretty much unprecedented in my experience. If that sounds at all esoteric and/or heady – well, to some extent it definitely was, but it was also emotional, engaging, and surprisingly dynamic, with elements of the mix constantly shifting and evolving around a subdued but seriously grooving core.
Easily the most transcendent piece came after the brief (~20 min.) taping itself; another extended "jam" that wormed its way into a spry, funky re-imagining of the album highlight "Space is Only Noise," as we danced barefoot on the lawn...
And then, for something completely different – except insofar as it was an equally demonstrative instance of SXSW's gloriously chaotic, improbable serendipity. Somehow I had it in my head that this band was a spin-off of ambient noise/drone group Emeralds (probably because it was listed as "The Rubies (from The Emeralds)," and I conveniently ignored the "from Yokohama Japan" part.)
But no. These Rubies from Japan were a bunch of preposterously manic hard rock'n'roll/power-pop nutsos, in classic bewilderingly enthusiastic Japanese fashion. They all had on matching splotchy print shirts and red pants. Except for one guy who had a tiger print shirt and red pants, who came out playing about five tambourines at once and wearing another one on his head. Then he passed them all out into the crowd, followed by a huge shopping bag full of mini-heart-shaped tambourines. Then they pulled a random girl onstage to dance and smash a cymbal, and left her there while most of the band jumped into the audience and started pulling people into a frenzied dancing circle. Then they passed out a ton of those little bottle-shaped party-popper things and instructed us to fire them all simultaneously at one of the band members. All while pounding out nonstop heavy metal surf riffs and high-octane Beatle-pop harmonies. Oh my god, it was preposterous!!
(I left, after maybe twenty minutes of sheer madness, festooned with tangles of party-popper streamers, and also with a mini-tambourine, which became an excellent accessory for my night of biking through the streets and back alleys of Austin, as well as an excellent audience-participatory clapping aid.)
Hey, Philly band! Honestly can't remember if I'd seen these guys before or not, but anyway they did their warm, hazy, folky-rockin' thing, like they do, and it was resoundingly pleasant, especially under the pastel purple and sea-foam green lights of the new and very spiffy Moody Theater. There were a couple of other Philly(-ish) bands I'd been thinking of trying to catch around this time – the terrific folk songwriter Strand of Oaks (actually from Wilkes-Barre) and super-fun good-times rockers Free Energy (whose new single is pure radness...so psyched they're back in action these days!) But, I was here instead, mostly to make sure not to miss...
Oh Stephin. Oh Claudia. Oh John, and Sam, and Shirley... So, I have a deep, long-abiding love/hate relationship with this band. Which I won't get into here. (Well okay, when it comes down to it, mostly love.) Anyhow, what can I say. They have reintroduced synthesizers – after a decade-plus of their strictly-real-instruments-only policy – on their (not-terrible, but predictably sub-par, and overly joke-centric) new album – but decidedly not in their live setup, which remains almost entirely acoustic. Impressively for the size of the space, it was quiet enough not to wear earplugs – per usual, Stephin Merritt did his best to enforce absolute audience silence in his typically oblique, bone-dry fashion. ("I talked at somebody else's show once.......it was Patty LuPone.......that's why I'm so short.") He seemed to be in a (relatively) good mood, though. He made jokes that were funny as well as clever. He played melodica, harmonium, kazoo, and (on a subtle rearrangement of "Come Back From San Francisco") revealed a surprisingly sweet falsetto.
I left after forty-five minutes – not sure how late their set actually went – but while I was there they probably did most of the new tunes (many of which, I'll admit, really are novelty/comedy song gold), along with plenty of 69 Love Songs "hits" and a few choice oldies (spine-tingling "Smoke and Mirrors"; oddball Holiday pick "Swinging London"; Obscurities standout "Plant White Roses") – most of which still bring chills. If only he still wrote 'em like he used to.
Totally underrated female-fronted rootsy (folk/soul/rock/country/pop/etc.) indie outfit on Saddle Creek. (The kind of band that has a deer antler resting on top of their Nord Electro synth, whatever that tells you.) Hopefully the underrated part changes with their upcoming second album. I only caught three songs but they were each pretty close to perfect: probably my favorite number from the first album (the tender, thoughtful "Ways of Looking,") and two new songs (including lead single/title track "Generals") both of which were a good deal more funky and rocking than the old stuff. Also, both front-lady Laura Burhenn and her right-hand vocal/percussion woman are total lookers, in completely different ways.
Clever band name – it's French for "tennis racket sleeve," but the false cognate connotation (noisy house music) is precisely apposite. But what I caught of these Parisians' set sounded pretty generic – typical electro-rocky dance whatever. Maybe it would've helped if I could have actually seen them through the smallish but extremely dense crowd. I think there were some mustaches involved.
Guitar/drums girl/boy duo from Ohio, about whom I knew nearly nothing going in. Took a long time troubleshooting their seriously complex, pedal-heavy set-up. The songs I heard were pretty complex too. Hard-hitting, punkish, a bit bluesy, but structurally unorthodox and with an impressive amount of sonic activity for just two people. Would give them some more time in the future, perhaps; for now I'm mildly intrigued, but not totally sold.
Basically, in this portion of the night, I was taking inspiration from the NPR All Songs Considered guys, whose SXSW podcasts document a fairly extreme, uncompromising approach to the conference that involves seeing a seemingly logistically impossible number of bands, as many of them as possible new and basically unknown, and generally staying for only a few songs before dashing off somewhere else. If the previous two sets were borderline strike-outs, this band – a name I'd heard maybe once and then again earlier in the day – was a grand slam.
Nothing overtly earth-shattering, musically speaking – it's basically just synth-pop, upbeat and dancy in a fairly standard way, with a definite "tropical" feel in several of the songs – not unlike Tanlines or a more coherent Delorean – and a markedly anthemic, John Hughes-soundtrack vibe. It's just that literally every song sounded like a hit single. And they look great on stage: young, fresh-faced, clean-cut (in a Vampire Weekend sort of way), super-smiley and enthusiastic. And the lead singer has a great, clear pop voice and a confident, commanding presence. Crucially, the audience was equally amped, definitely the liveliest audience I've seen so far this week, and – even though St. Lucia have released a very tiny amount of music so far – they all seemed to know every song. Somebody said they thought it was because the entire crowd was from Brooklyn. Either way, I predict we'll be hearing more about these guys very soon.
After listening to Grimes soundcheck lackadaisically for about twenty minutes (a half-hour after her set was supposed to start, mind you), from outside the stuffed-to-the-gills Clive House, I ditched and dashed across town to catch these Toronto electropop underdogs, whom I have been wanting to see for years now. (I think they've cancelled at least one if not two US tours in the last half-decade.) And they did not disappoint. Hell, I think they only played two songs that I knew (and not even a particularly great ones) – which means the set was almost entirely new material – but it didn't even matter. They've got their sound – tough, spiky, dancy synth-rock power-pop (Swedish band The Sounds are a good reference point) – and they're pretty much sticking to it; so it doesn't take much to follow along. And, predictably, Martina Sobrara – aside from being a powerhouse vocalist – is completely adorable, and nice, and funny, and basically sexy as hell. (Also, she's tiny.) Awesome, pumped-up crowd for these guys too.
A very pleasant surprise: I wandered out onto the patio, since Niki and the Dove were still setting up, and was greeted by some gorgeous, Fleet Foxes-style harmonies that quickly morphed into blazing, riff-heavy rock complete with curly red-haired dude wailing away on a cowbell. Never gave these guys much attention before, and I probably still won't, but it was still totally righteous to rock out with them for a couple of numbers.
Hmm... Swedish newbies that (along with the aforementioned Spoek Mothambo) seem to represent a not-wholly-convincing attempt on Sub Pop's part to wildly broaden their genre purview. They've clearly got a heavily Knife-influenced kinda thing in mind, and they've got the weirdness part down (both vocal and sartorial), as well as plenty of squiggly, rickety-sounding synths. But they seem to be in serious need of some melodies. Or maybe that isn't the point?
Went in looking for Toddla T (whose set ended up being cancelled, due to general lateness I guess, wonk wonk), instead I got this lovely British soul singer – seriously, Adele's got nothing on her – plus "orchestra" (which I guess means they have a violinist.) High, high quality, sophisticated soul. Blue-eyed...whatever. Gold. And so gracious. Plus, it was her birthday! So we sang to her too.
30 April 2012
15 March 2012
Baby Steps to ATX
(hey, it rhymes, like Geidi Primes)
So sometimes I'm a little slow. Like yesterday, biking home, I realized what the title of my 2011 End-of-Year mash-up mix is/must be, just about two and a half months late. (Guess I'll make the necessary adjustments... of course I haven't given out any copies of it anyway, so no real loss...)
In case you haven't heard it yet, or you don't feel you've sufficiently performed the new/retroactive titular injunction:
2011: DANCE UNTIL THE MIX ENDS
Speaking of that mix: the other day I took one of my favorite moments from it (maybe the first time the mix really kicks into gear, about a quarter of the way in) and extended it into a stand-alone mash-up. Which may be the first time I've actually done that.
So here it is for your dreaming/ass-bumping pleasure. M83 vs. Big Freedia. I guess it's called "Get Back to Midnight City"? (Maybe I'll figure that out in a few months?) Would probably make a pretty sweet mash-up video too, but I'll leave that to somebody else...
grab it: y'all get FLAC now (okay, it's really just m4a.)
I am, as I type, on my way to Austin, gearing up for my fourth go-round at South by Southwest Music Conference. ('07, '08, '11, '12.) This'll be my first year doing it with a badge, coveted amulet of magical line-shirking powers. That's because this is my first time attending under an official capacity: I'll be blogging about the conference for ye olde Philly City Paper (and I'll riposte here too.) We shall see how these changes affect the experience; I'm predicting something of an increase in stress/self-destructiveness levels (if only because of sleep lost 2º writing), but hopefully a somewhat commensurate increase in awesomeness of experience 2º extra access/flexibility.
(Though that could totally just backfire and turn into a higher level of optimization crazymaking.) (Also, truth be told, I've only rarely found having just the wristband, and no badge, to substantially hamper my ability to see stuff I want to see. Not that I'm complaining...)
In preparation for SXSW, which is, I guess, as close to a real-life experiential distillation of Now in Music as there is; some musings on how I'm feeling about music, nowabouts.
I'm feeling: good! Pretty excited about things! After a less-than-enthralling '11, one of the first things I noticed about 2012 is something that reminded me of 2010 (which was, for me, truly a musical annus mirabilis): my two out-of-the-gate front-runner favorites, which i discussed in detail in my last post, bear some notable similarities to my colossal, twin 2010 #1s, which were similarly early to reveal themselves.
[Even numerologically speaking...if that was a year of Ones, the year of said favorites – #1 Life Stand and Have #1 On Me – (and also "O.N.E." and "One" and "One"), now we get the 2 Bears and Born 2 Die. And there are two 2s in the name of the year! I'll stop.]
Okay, so of course The 2 Bears correspond very readily and obviously to Hot Chip (since Joe Goddard is in both groups, and they're roughly the same sort of music), and no I'm not going to try to make a case for Lana Del Rey being anything like Joanna Newsom, since both of them are just utterly singular, Joanna especially so. But there is something about the duality/dichotomoy represented by both pairs of albums – more or less the old dancing/crying split (which is, at its best, never a total split): warm/aloof, positive/bleak, loving/miserable, [gently] extroverted/[gently] introverted... they seem to occupy similar holes.
More broadly, I've been thinking a lot about the two-year cycle, because 2010 really does seem to be coming around again in the form of all my fave artists from that year hitting with new albums.
already we've got: Sleigh Bells, Dustin Wong, School of Seven Bells, The Magnetic Fields, The Chap, Foxy Shazam, Tanlines, The Mynabirds, Die Antwoord, and [most importantly] Allo Darlin', all with albums that play like subtle-to-substantial refinements that are as good or often greater than their 2010 counterparts. (or in the case of the MagFields, slightly less mediocre.) (or, in Lindstrøm's case, something totally different and utterly incredible.) plus Zammuto taking the [undefinable]-shaped niche left by the Books [r.i.p.] and, similarly, Pond as the new Tame Impala.
and it feels like a week doesn't go by without the announcement of a forthcoming record by another of my 2010 faves: Free Energy (!), Scissor Sisters (!!), Best Coast (not my complete fave in '10, but i've been listening to the new album and it is ace!), Simian Mobile Disco, Nicki Minaj, and, what is this... not only are we getting not one, but two excellent side projects (those 2legit2quit Bears + the excellent New Build, whose "Misery Loves Company" is my absolute jam of the moment, and looking to be my sxsw anthem for the year), but it turns out the motherlode itself, Hot Chip, are also dropping a new one in june. hosanna! for we are well and truly blessed...[i think it is official at this point: HC are my favorite band in music.]
and based on tour activity (and in some cases their presence here in Austin), and/or general two-year-cycle dependability, I'm guessing we can probably look forward to new ones as well from: Dragonette, Vampire Weekend, Javelin, Teengirl Fantasy, Matthew Dear, maybe Four Tet, The New Pornographers (or at least AC Newman?), Retribution Gospel Choir (whose new EP rips!), Taylor Swift, Alphabeat. Maybe Spoon? Maybe Tunng? Then there's M.I.A., who's in a pretty interesting spot right about now. (and if she doesn't redeem herself, at least we've got Santigold, blasting back from 2008) and does anybody remember Justin Bieber?
[there'll be no LCD, of course (though James Murphy does seem pretty active lately...), and almost certainly Joanna or Robyn.. but still. as two-year class reunions go, this thing already feels ridiculously well attended; and there's obviously still plenty more year to come.]
23 February 2012
2012: born 2 be strong
and we're off to the races! or the watering hole, i guess, to go by my basically arbitrary alcohol-themed sidebar ranking metaphor for the year*
2012! @)!@ [that's "2012" in "caps"] good stuff! after a kinda lackluster 2011 – at least, until the very end when i figured out what i'd been missing (though even then pretty much just singles, mostly in the dance/hiphop/rnb singles dept..) kinda feel like i and music alike are coming back a little refreshed. good things poppin' all over. it feels so good, it almost feels like 2010 all over again.
specifically, there are my two absolute hands-down favorite albums of the year so far – both of which i was already completely smitten with as of late january (both released 1/31, as it happens), and there's no real competition in sight. and the nominees for let's-just-call-it-a-wrap best album of 2012, yes already: be strong by the 2 bears**, and born to die by lana del rey
the 2 bears!! the 2 bears!! oh, my, god, the 2 bears. well. i know i'm a little weird and all, but why is nobody else running around the internet proclaiming this album the best thing since whatever? srsly. (yup, i've got officially the highest critical opinion in meta-land, by a solid 10 %pts.) (and lets not mince tapes here: this album is unquestionably a 10 in my book, but amg writers are basically not allowed to rate anything newly released at more than four and a half stars.) (and, ok, yes, pretty much every reviewer out there gave this 80% or at least 70%, but they're talking about "fun" like it's some kind of "novelty" or something. people, FUN is at the core of being don't you get it?)
but forget numbers. on the one hand, i basically already said everything i needed to say about be strong in my review. on the other hand, that review is just a lot of words put together, and words are pretty much boring. be strong is the opposite of boring. it has words, most of which are about music (and/or life, usually at the same time), but it says things about music (and/or life) that i couldn't hope to put to pixel with one whit of the oomph. and when it doesn't have words, it says those same things even better. okay, i need to stop this paragraph. just dance with me, ok?
[i just thought of: joe goddard's middle name should be "puts the god in"] [also: i had a fantasy of meeting hot chip, and telling joe and alexis how amazingly awesome i think they both are, but also having to tell joe, still in alexis' presence – after first, of course, telling him that i want to give him a bear hug – that he is the awesomest of the awesome. in fact, that he is hands-down my favorite person in music. especially now that james murphy is out of the running. though i guess that's not technically true.]
born to die, on the other hand... well, i said almost nothing i needed to say about it in my review. because, well, what can you really say in 75 words about something this ambiguously complex (/complexly ambiguous... that is: it's unclear whether it's really simple or really not simple.) [or even 90, since i totally went over word count and got cut; i'll post the full version hear when i get around to a round-up; we're about do.]
mostly, it's a hard album to write about. or, i should say, i have a lot of feelings about it which are hard to express. naturally i was pretty predisposed to like it (or, at least, have feelings about it) considering that it contains my #1 and #2 favorite songs of 2011. that's a pretty improbable head-start on my heart.
and i didn't know what to expect from the rest of it; "born to die" suggested it would be more like "blue jeans" than "videogames" – which turned out to be true, and which, to some extent, seems to be at the heart of the problem some people seem to have with the album. i can sympathize with that: an album more in the mode of "videogames" – one focused primarily around a smart, powerful, poetic songwriting voice – a voice with the degree of nuance and insight that song seemed/seems to contain – could have been something pretty incredibly great.
that's not really what born to die is. lizzie grant is, of course, a songwriter, and i would say a pretty good one, perhaps better, and she definitely has a hell of a voice (writerly that is, not to mention singerly) which is plenty powerful – or at least effective – in its way; which is full of – if not poetry, exactly, certainly poetics, and which, i am gonna say, is smart enough to know that there's more to being smart than being smart. (nuance and insight? i'll let that one slide for now.) but no, she isn't chan marshall. (which, honestly, i guess i'm just not a cat power person.) or whoever else "videogames" might have suggested. (in a weird way – in the way it discourses with melancholy, devotion, and indifference, perhaps – might i propose edith frost?)
instead, she wrote every song on the album with a collaborator – including "videogames," it turns out. (apparently, he supplied the chord progression. we'll probably never know how much of the lyrics on the album are solely hers, though it's certainly conceivable that most or even all of them are.) (which isn't to say that songwriters, of any caliber, can't collaborate while still maintaining their voice and self – that's probably a good hobblehorse to poke a few holes in one of these years.) (besides, forget "videogames" – after all, it was only my second favorite song of 2011. and it came to me at such a different time and with such a different set of associations that it doesn't really feel of a piece with the album anyway, yet, still.)
and, instead, born to die is an album of aesthetics, rather than an album of songwriting. damn is it ever. a super-pow wham-whomp aesthetic, full and fleshy and forceful – a musical aesthetic and a lyrical/linguistic aesthetic and a symbolic/poetic/conceptual aesthetic (not to mention visual, and also vocal) all of which fit together almost seamlessly, in a so-uncanny-it-seems-obvious way, though they could also stand separately, i think.
and basically, to get specific for a second, i think it's doing something really original, just in purely musical terms (setting aside, for now, any question of persona/content/context/subtext): there is nothing that sounds like this album. (is there?) really. it seems like such a basic, obvious formula – slow hip-hop beats, big gushing orchestral bits, and pop songs – but i can't think of anybody who's really made anything like it.
[matt proposed portishead and garbage, and yes i can see how those are prefigurations to some extent – and plus, it would be totally awesome if more bands decided to sound like those bands (and were actually able to do it) – but, no, not really, no way: portishead are spooky and alien and/or utterly detached/monotonically depressed, plus they don't really write pop songs; garbage are edgy and punkish and also schmaltzy and effusive and urgent, plus they are an electronic/rock band – lana del rey is none of these things, and more importantly she is hardly anything like either shirley manson or beth gibbons.] [here's one though: fiona apple. should have thought of that before, maybe. but i never completely loved her either...]
it's big, lavish, "produced," "pop," but it's not "pop" in any kind of familiar, narrow sense – it certainly doesn't sound like anything "on the radio" these days – the beats are sort of hip-hop (or possibly, if you like, trip-hop), as is some of the production personnel, but this is obviously not hip-hop music (even if, i will assert, lana does rap at numerous points throughout the album.) so, it's ...pop-by-default, i guess (cuz it's clearly not rock or folk.)
more interestingly though – and i have a little suspicion that this is lurking somewhere behind the issues/confusion/difficulty some people seem to have around the album, it's neither self-evidently "indie" nor clearly "mainstream" – in its sound, signifiers, anything. it's not readily recognizable as belonging to any particular established world/scene/concept. [<<it came from the internet....>>] even to hear her sing "i'm playing on the radio" feels weirdly incongruous (as in, how is this music that can coexist alongside other music?) – even if she probably actually is. (though, obviously, that's not the point... she is not actually telling us to "love [her] because she's playing on the radio." right? are you with me there?)
oh yeah, the words. i probably need to talk about the words. to be honest, i'm more interested in the lyrics of the album (or rather, they have, as yet, mostly presented themselves to me) as a collection of images; a lexicon of tropes; a bright smattering of clichés both old and newly-turned; a piecemeal articulation of an aesthetic or worldview (not, to be clear, one i would presume to ascribe to lizzy grant), than as direct, literal, content.
i would agree, sure, that there are some potentially substantially troubling things going on in these songs from a feminist/gender/sexual politics standpoint (not to mention from an emotional health standpoint.) and, yes, extremely similar lyrical themes are repeated quite frequently, ad nauseum perhaps (if you're prone to lyrical nausea) throughout the album. (in general, the album is extremely samey in most respects – something that definitely ties in with it having a strong, emphatic aesthetic – though that's not to say that the similar songs don't distinguish themselves as more individual – and some stronger, some weaker – with repeated listens.)
somehow, though, those things don't really bother me too much when i'm listening. maybe it's because almost nothing here comes across as "real": the album is so wholeheartedly wrapped up in fantasy, fantasies, of various kinds (wealth, fame, love, sex, youth, glamor, misery, hollywood...american dreams), it feels more like an exploration of fantasy worlds within worlds than anything really relevant to lived reality. (though, arguably, issues of sexual politics have as much to do with what's in our heads and dreams as anything else.)
anyway. forget the haters. screw the hype. i like it.
------
* not exactly sure how i arrived at that, or how "cheers (drink to that)" became the theme tune for it either – maybe i should switch it to "tubthumper"? – tho i do rather like it. but anyway h/t to bedbugs for the format; glad to see he's still using it. but why so samey, ernold?
**i called this "my favorite album of 2012, so far," and my roommate turned to me and said "um... it's like january 10th."
22 February 2012
21 February 2012
2011 in heaven: muddled, muted, moody, mature
that'll do, 2011, that'll do. i think we agree by now that there's no such thing as a "bad year in music" but at least from where i was sitting this last one felt a little less than exciting, both in terms of the stuff i was listening to myself (and i listened to a ton – once again, probably more than any previous year, if i had to guess – which might after all have been part of the problem...) and also the consensus faves (meh..Bon Iver, Drake, Destroyer, M83, Adele, Watch Jay-Z + Kanye fail to get us to call them The Throne – sure i listened and enjoyed plenty well enough, but none of that felt especially momentous or truly substantial. tUnE-yArDs and shabazz were intriguing at first, but neither really got its hooks in me. which basically leaves us with azealia and lana, each with ≤2 tracks apiece.)
hard to find any major patterns in my listening... my lists are a pretty typical mish-mash of singer-songwriters both newly discovered (Frank Turner) and long-beloved (Devon, Paul, Jens); pop-minded soul both retro and nuevo (Mayer Hawthorne, Beyoncé, Miguel),
funky-future-dancemusik (Chrissy Murderbot, Four Tet, Jacques Greene) and, sticking out like three ugly blue sore thumbs, one unconscionably old-fashioned record of pure-power pop (Peter Bjorn & John) which i readily forget to care about whatsoever except for whenever it's actually playing...
there was, though, what felt to me like a distinct, prevalent 2011 sound, or sound-world, or sound-concept, that was something of a through-line through many of my favorites: a lush, warm, synth-heavy but also organic-feeling aesthetic that was sometimes woozy and swoony, but not in a warped/texturally-distressed/chillwavey sense; sometimes subdued, often sophisticated-seeming, but definitely still pop and very melodic; definitely focused on sonic prettiness, but also surprisingly emotionally deep and complex.
i heard it throughout my (in some ways very different) three favorite albums of the year: When Saints Go Machine's Konkylie, Ada's Meine Zarten Pfoten, and Architecture In Helsinki's Moment Bends. (my "official" ranking of these three has been shuffled and reshuffled innumerable times by now; suffice to say i think each of them is something pretty special – all of them, incidentally, were pretty much completely unexpected discoveries for me.) i also heard it in much of Hercules & Love Affair's surprisingly varied and largely underrated (/misunderstood, i'd say) Blue Songs, not always in the danciest tracks (though sometimes) but in the more understand
i heard it in
so, i guess, it was a great year for this particular muted, moody interstitial muddling of pop, rock and electronic. not necessarily what i think of as my favorite kind of music, but somehow that's what did it for me in 2011. and it did it just fine.
~
these are already on the sidebar. but just to make it officialishial, and put some pretty pictures together (eh, no great shakes really. devon's puppy wins this batch hands down; with ada's furry-paw donkey as a runner-up...) my favorites of last year: songs, albums; twenty, eleven.
[SONGS]1. Lana Del Rey: "Blue Jeans"
2. Lana Del Rey: "Video Games"
4. Ada: "Keep Me In Mind"
5. Jens Lekman: "Waiting For Kirsten"
7. Beyoncé: "Countdown"
8. Xylos: "Not Enough"
9. Young Galaxy: "B.S.E. [Black Swan Event]"
10. Allo Darlin': "Tallulah" [*2010/2012]
11. Jacques Greene: "Another Girl"
13. Low: "Try To Sleep"
15. Pallers: "Wicked"
17. Frank Turner: "Peggy Sang The Blues"
19. Hercules & Love Affair: "Boy Blue"; "Painted Eyes"
20. tUnE-yArDs: "Bizness"
1. When Saints Go Machine, Konkylie
2. Ada, Meine Zarten Pfoten
3. Architecture in Helsinki, Moment Bends
4. Hercules and Love Affair, Blue Songs
5. Devon Sproule, I Love You Go Easy
6. Paul Simon, So Beautiful or So What
7. Mayer Hawthorne, How Do You Do + Impressions EP
8. Beyoncé, 4
11. Chrissy Murderbot, Women's Studies
