Jeff Miers: Sound Check
Sound Check: Rewinding the musical year
Were there trends? No, but some discs really stand out
It’s ridiculous to look for connective tissue anymore, so diffuse has the world of popular music become. So impossible to locate unifying themes. So very difficult to ascertain some sort of communal vibe amid it all.
It probably isn’t there, anyway, that communal vibe. The days when music united a culture or subculture, framed it, spoke for it, encouraged it to speak for itself — they seem to be over, gone the way of 8- track tapes, leg warmers and job security.
All of these things will probably come back, though, as the pendulum swings yet again. So . . . who knows? Maybe popular music could become the voice of the counterculture again. Of course, there would have to actually be a counterculture to reflect, and a worldwide community of bloggers and sit-at-home pundits just doesn’t cut it in that category.
It’s because of this, I believe, that, as great a year for music as 2008 was, there lingers a feeling of ennui. It’s hard to feel like any of it really mattered, you know? Like the bricks are all there, and they’re sturdy ones, but no one is willing to build the house.
Do I quibble? Well, yeah, daily. I’ve become good at it by now . As ever, I feel optimistic, just because the other choice doesn’t interest me much. So all of this great music — even if the lousy stuff outsold it in most instances, and even if it it didn’t build toward anything in particular — well, surely it suggests something brighter ahead.
While we wait for the arrival of something resembling a cultural dawn, we’ve got sounds galore to feed soul and imagination alike. Here are the albums I’ve leaned on heavily at various points over the last year, the ones that stood firm and didn’t give way. All, I believe, are worth welcoming into your home and your life. Or, at the very least, your hard drive.
Brian Eno & David Byrne, “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today” (Todo Mundo): A combination of Eno’s ambient textures, loops, beats, live instrumentation and Byrne’s gospel-tinged idiosyncrasies. Clever and creative, but underneath it all, brimming with compassion.
The Fireman, “ Electric Arguments” (MPL): Paul McCartney when no one is looking. His most experimental and, ultimately, most pleasing work in years.
Mercury Rev, “Snowflake Midnight” (Yep Roc): This band refuses to stand still. Here, new textures and a whole new approach to writting and arranging lend to the spacey grandeur the band is known for.
MGMT, “Oracular Spectacular” (Columbia): The new technicolor freak-rock.
Sigur Ros, “Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endelaust” (XL): Ethereal and gorgeous, an Icelandic Radiohead.
My Morning Jacket, “Evil Urges” (ATO): Jim James and Co. make the finest R&B album of the year, even though they aren’t really an R&B band. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Beck, “Modern Guilt” (DGC): A continuation of the stirring-but-laid-back vibe Beck created with his finest album, “Sea Change.”
Ray Davies, “Workingman’s Cafe” (New West): The closest to new Kinks as we’ve been offered in, like, forever.
The Sword, “Gods of the Earth” (Kermado): New metal rooted in the best of the British school, circa 1981. Massive.
Coldplay, “Viva la Vida” (Capitol): Perfectly sculpted pop.
Elvis Costello, “Momofuku” (Lost Highway): Costello’s finest in a decade. Did anyone notice? Sounds great on vinyl, too.
AC/DC, “Black Ice” (Columbia): Proof that rock ’n’ roll is forever, and that generation after generation will crave and discover its simple beauty. Even if they have to go to Wal- Mart to do so.
Duffy, “Rockferry” (Mercury): Forget about Amy Winehouse. Duffy is the finest, most soulful female pop singer in Britain.
Mudcrutch, “Mudcrutch” ( Reprise): Tom Petty resurrects his pre-Heartbreakers band, and lo and behold, out come the jams!
John Mellencamp, “Life Death Love & Freedom” (Hear Music): Mellencamp is at his best when fueled by righteous anger. Here, the sympathetic production afforded by T-Bone Burnett helps to craft an instant classic.
TV on the Radio, “Dear Science” (Interscope): Danceable art-rock? For real? Wow. I knew it would happen one day!
Martha Wainwright, “I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too” (Rounder): Wainwright’s second reveals a new confidence in both singing and songwriting It’s sexy stuff.
You may have noticed a paucity of hip-hop on my list. Don’t blame me for that. I was looking, and at least in the mainstream, didn’t find much. The finest hip-hop album of the year was actually a reissue of an album released more than 30 years ago.
“Miles Davis: The Complete on the Corner Sessions” (Columbia Legacy) is the first hip-hop album ever, even if there’s no actual rapper present, and it’s still the best, for my money. This music doesn’t sound fresh today — it sounds way ahead of its time, still. If you profess to care about hip-hop — or really, jazz, rock, funk and any of their permutations — this is well worth the hefty price tag. Pure genius.•
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