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This past year was such a wonderful year for music, that I must admit I was a little worried as to whether this year could compete.
Whether or not it will remains to be seen, but this January has certainly given the year a strong start. Really great music is being made every day, and it's silly to think that the changing of the year has anything to do with it. Do be warned though, there is a bit of fudging in this list. Three of these songs/albums were released in January, one is from an album released in the Fall of 2009 and was re-released as a single/music video this month. The final song was made available to mailing list subscribers last December, but I only managed to listen to it this month.
Nonetheless, there's also a lot of great music coming up, that just hasn't been released yet, but we know about anyway. I reference a few at the end of this blog.
Enough of that, here are five incredible songs/albums from this month in music!
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Contra by Vampire Weekend
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I was talking with a friend of a friend about this album, and he told me ‘Listening to [Contra] was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had with an album of music. I absolutely loved one song, and then I’d hate the next with a passion.’ I’m a little most positive as whole on the album than he, but I know what he means. Vampire Weekend’s quirky and bright brand of afro-pop/indie rock is all at once for everyone and no one at the same time. The lyrics are obtuse and nonsensical, the vocal gymnastics of lead singer Ezra Koenig can be surprising and weird. But when coupled with the boundless energy of the band’s sound, it’s difficult for anyone to not move and sing along. Perhaps that’s what made this album arguably January’s most anticipated release. All I know is that the three shows in New York during my winter break, and the one show in Minneapolis where I actually live most of the year sold out in a heartbeat. This is a great band, with a wonderful sound, and their sophmore album suggests that they will remain on the scene for years to come.
+ Show Spoiler +
My favorite song on the album, perhaps in part because I was one of the first people in America to hear it, at the All Points West festival in New York! It’s just a great song though, and Koenig’s vocals are just too catchy to not sing along.
(The volume is bizarrely low on this video, turn up your compiuter volume a bit...)
(The volume is bizarrely low on this video, turn up your compiuter volume a bit...)
Astro Coast by Surfer Blood
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Surfer Blood is an band that reminds me of a lot of other bands. The Beach Boys to start, as if the references to surfing and the sun&sand weren’t enough. But the guitar-heavy sound of the Ventures as well—particularly their famous ‘Wipeout’—seem to resonate through this album. Even a little bit of the fun energy of Vampire Weekend is present on this album. This is an album that has a theme, and sticks to it very well. And although Surfer Blood isn’t doing anything particularly new on this album (with the exception of the sonic overload that is ‘Swim’—see spoiler) but what it is doing is exceptionally well done. This is an album for those who enjoy oldies and those who love contemporary pop as well.
+ Show Spoiler +
’Swim’ came out late last year as a teaser for the full album release, and single-handedly put Surfer Blood on the map. It’s a good song, but it’s also the song that seems to offer the clearest direction for Surfer Blood. This is their sound, and it’s just awesome.
Pursuit of Happiness by KiD CuDi
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(This is the cover of the album; Man on the Moon: The End of Day There’s a single cover for ‘Pursuit of Happiness’, but, let’s be honest, it looks terrible.)
I said I was going to cheat a little bit on this month, and here’s what I meant. When KiD CuDi’s much hyped debut album came out last September, I listened to it and thought ‘Okay’, and promptly put it aside. Day ‘n’ Nite was subsequently played to death on the radio, and I really grew disillusioned with the album, and the artist. Fast forward to this last month, when a friend of mine links me to the newly released music video to ‘Pursuit of Happiness’, and I’m spellbound. It’s an absolutely amazing music video, first and foremost, but it also helped me articulate what I find so interesting about KiD CuDi. There are a good number of smart rap artists out there, and quite a few by now know how to make a sample work, how to make puns (seriously, ‘brain so good I swore she went to college' thing is done now, alright? DONE!!!), and how to reach their audience. But with CuDi, there’s a vulnerability that simply doesn’t exist with anyone else as popular as he is. It’s easy enough to see a confident exterior, but beyond even the lyrics, there’s something disturbingly fragile about him and his music. Really wonderful stuff.
+ Show Spoiler +
Damn this video/song combination is amazing.
July Flame by Laura Veirs
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It feels almost absurd to say that this album was released in January, since I’ve owned the final copy since October when I saw Ms. Veirs and her band open for The Decemberists in Minneapolis. But this wonderful record was in fact publicly released this month, and I’ve been listening to it a lot of it especially in these cold winter months. This is a summer album, not about the beach, but rather those cool summer nights with fireflies quietly rising and falling, and crickets composing among the tall grass. It’s filled with the sticky sweet (A july flame is, after all, a type of peach), and the hauntingly melodic. It’s a gorgeous album.
+ Show Spoiler +
The title track from the album, is also my favorite song from it. It starts peacefully, and transitions into this wonderful medicine-man-esque chant that builds and builds and works ever so well.
Boy Lilikoi by Jónsi
Jónsi is an artist who’s solo album is to be released in March. Until then, he is best known as the lead singer of the sublime Icelandic band Sigur Ros. Their songs are oftentimes slow-building, long, incomprehensible, repetitive, and absolutely, stunningly magical. They’re just amazing.
Now, I was stupidly not on their mailing list (their state-side trips are infrequent) so I missed this song when it was first made available in December, but thankfully I got a hold of it early in January, and I haven’t stopped listening to it since. It’s just an amazing song in every sense of the word. It’s an upbeat, uptempo song, with stunning intimacy in the vocals, and backed up by a majestic (running out of adjectives here) string arrangement. Oh god, I love this song more than I can say. It’s phenomenal, just... listen
+ Show Spoiler +
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I hope you enjoyed at least one of these songs/artists! Please tell me what I missed!
Finally, as I said at the beginning, here are a couple bonus albums that we’ll see in the near future that I’m looking forward to:
+ Show Spoiler +
The Besnard Lakes are a Canadian husband/wife duo with a penchant for quirky album titles, beautiful album art, and good music. Their album; The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night comes out on
The Malian Musician/Legend Ali Farka Touré died in 2006, but not before recording his second album with my absolute favorite musician in the world, the Malian kora player Toumani Diabate. The album; Ali and Toumani comes out February 23rd.
