30. Tame Impala - Lonerism
Tame Impala's debut album Innerspeaker was a pleasant surprise when it hit in 2010. A potent mix of sixties psychedelia, Brit pop reverence, and chugging riffage all washing over you like waves. While it wore its influences on its sleeve, Innerspeaker was a surprisingly modern take on the styles, and transcended any claims of being mere copy-cats. Sophomore album Lonerism is still a Tame Impala record but the sonic palate has definitely been forced wide open, sounding bigger and more expansive, and bursting at the seams with new ideas and sounds. Lonerism is a darker, melancholy record about general themes of isolation and introspection, which are more subtle than overt throughout the tracks. There is density to these tracks, but the analog instrumentation is mostly warm and inviting. There is more attention to keyboards this time around, and elevates Tame Impala's sound ten fold, allowing their songs to have more heft and weight to them. Several of the tracks off Innerspeaker were all swirly haze and nothing of much substance to hold them down. Lonerism feels tangible and the work of a band that wants to push where their sound goes. While Innerspeaker was a really good record, Lonerism is Tame Impala's first foray into great territory.
29. Passion Pit - Gossamer
Where Passion Pit's debut album Manners was a technicolor Disney cartoon, follow up Gossamer is the Pixar animated 3-D IMAX extravaganza. The album is both brighter, darker, subtler, over-the-top, and basically every other dichotomy you can imagine. In lesser hands, this approach would come across as schizophrenic and slap-dash, however, lead singer Michael Angelakos along with Manners producer Chris Zane have all the balls in the air and masterfully keep them at play. The album veers wildly between electro-pop raveups, everything but the kitchen sink production numbers, to beautiful takes on modern R&B, all of it anchored by Angelakos' supple voice. Where in the past he could lean too heavily on his screeching falsetto, here, it is used sparingly, allowing Angelakos to use his wide range to excellent effect, bringing out subtle nuances throughout.
28. Perfume Genius - Put Your Back N 2 It
Seattle songwriter Mike Hadreas (a.k.a. Perfume Genius) burst onto the music scene a couple of years ago with the haunting and stark collection of piano ballads called Learning that were so intimate you could hear his feet on the piano pedals. Lyrically, the album was full of confessional tales that spoke honestly and openly about the singer himself, and were almost harrowingly personal. After a period of isolation due to some trauma and self-destruction, Hadreas emerges once again with another set of piano based tracks called Put Your Back N 2 It, which ups the production quality and range of instrumentation, but still keeps its haunting, confessional feel. While these tracks are quite personal and intimate, dealing with Hadreas' addiction and emotional issues, as well many songs from a gay man's point of view, there are more universal themes here dealing with intimacy, addiction, feelings of self-worth, violence, family, and hope that will resonate with a far larger audience. The album also has a broader palate of instruments in which he can fill in the colors of his music. Most of the tracks are piano based, but there is also room for guitars, keyboards, and even *gasp* drums. Put Your Back N 2 It is an emotionally draining album but one that ultimately focuses on hope and is one of the best albums of the year
27. Bear In Heaven - I Love You, It's Cool
Bear In Heaven's last album, the brilliant Beast Rest Forth Mouth, was a Bergman movie in comparison to their new album's technicolor/vistavision spectacle. Trading BRFM's glacial cool for brighter moods and temps, I Love You, It's Cool is a shimmering day-glo fantasy, full of bursting synths, driving rhythms, and wide open expanses. While the tracks on BRFM could get lost in their insular world, the 10 tracks here are practically begging to be played in a huge stadium.
26. XXYYXX - XXYYXX
16-year old wunderkind producer Marcel Everett, who goes under the moniker XXYYXX, is in that sort of undefinable stage where his musical output is frequently all over the map, trying a little Dirty South, two step, garage, dubstep, chillwave, and glo-fi before swirling around and starting all over again from the beginning. He is young enough to where this comes across as youthful experimentation and not a case of ADD. On his second full length, the self-titled XXYYXX, he is still searching for his own distinct style, often wearing his influences a little too brashly on his sleeve, but despite some musical similarities, his producer chops are too instinctive to dismiss the music as outright aping. I suppose if you want to get general about his sound, this music could be called future garage. Using mostly hip-hop inspired beats under atmospheric synths and rumbling bass, XXYYXX focuses on a slowed down aesthetic with vocal samples stretched and pitch shifted into almost unrecognizable forms.
25. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel
Uncompromising and stubborn, Fiona Apple always follows her own path. Following the success of her debut album Tidal and her hit single "Criminal," Apple refused to let that success determine the direction of her career. She could have easily chosen to repeat that formula over and over again, exploiting herself and her songs, and yet, she forged ahead with her unique vision. Following Tidal with a second album with a ridiculously long title (the album shorthanded as When the Pawn... actually is a poem with over 400 characters) and a much more inscrutable trajectory, Apple made no bones about her eccentricity, and even seemed to revel in it. This eccentricity, however, caused many issues between Apple and her record label. The follow up, entitled Extraordinary Machine, was recorded over a period of several years and found its release date delayed several times, leading to the assumption that Apple's label was unhappy with its commercial prospects. After an Internet campaign to the get the album released, leaked versions of the album, and more delays, the album was released to universal acclaim, showcasing more elaborate instrumentation and songwriting; a far cry from the relative simplicity of Tidal. Not much has been heard from Apple since that release. After promoting the album, Apple basically disappeared from public view to work on songs. Seven years later (and with much less controversy), Apple finally releases the follow up, The Idler Wheel... (again with the long, drawn out album title), and again changes direction. Where Extraordinary Machine threw everything but the kitchen sink into the mix, The Idler Wheel has a much more limited palate, primarily focusing on Apple's piano with some percussive effects provided by drummer/producer Charley Drayton. The Idler Wheel is not an easy album to warm to; Apple's opaque, looping lyrics and the minimal, yet flourished musical backing initially keep one at arm's length. But listen after listen, the album finds a way to seep into your veins; a turn of phrase, a delightful piano melody, or even an odd use of percussion hook you deep into its spell.
24. Sigur Ros - Valtari
Valtari is a gorgeous record and impeccably produced, its 8 tracks forming more of a singular experience, a suite of songs, instead of individual moments. There is an ease with the flow of the record, taking its time to get where it is going. The album feels like a journey through life, beginning in hushed environments, getting louder and more purposeful in the middle section, then slowly fading into nothingness. Like its haunting, magical album cover, Valtari defies easy description or logic. It will either speak to you or not. I resisted for the longest time, allowing my initial disappointment to cloud my enjoyment of what is a very intimate, special record. It inhabits that space in the day between light and dark when everything seems to be in a hyper-twilight; where everything has both a crystalline clarity and hazy outline, where it both illuminates and confounds. There is a complexity here that is subtle and sublime, and takes you on your own personal journey, wherever that make take you. Valtari is stunningly realized and one of the best records of the year.
23. Death Grips - The Money Store
Sacramento, California rap/punk/noise trio Death Grips burst out of thin air last year with the excellent mixtape Exmilitary, which found its way onto many best of lists. I enjoyed it and appreciated it, but the sheer aggression and brutality of it all left me a little cold and unwilling to fully embrace it. Since its release, the trio, made up of Stefan Burnett aka MC Ride (vocals), Zach Hill (production / drums), and Andy Morin aka Flatlander (production), has signed a major label deal with Epic records, gone on tour (with celebrated sets at Coachella), and have now released the first of two planned albums, The Money Store. Moving to a major label has not effected Death Grips' vision and sound much, if at all. There are no high stakes producers, pop sheen, or collaborations with Nicki Minaj or some other singer/rapper. Basically it is a logical progression from Exmilitary, retaining the bleak world view and intense sonic production, but sounding more expansive, and hookier/catchier. Not that these are mainstream/pop tracks; they just have more to them that brings you back again and again.
22. Mount Eerie - Clear Moon/Ocean Roar
There is a theory that past, present, and future exists all at once and that our tiny brains cannot handle this complex concept and so it only recognizes the present and unfolds everything in a linear progression. I think sometimes the brain slips and we do get small glimpses of what multidimensional time is actually like, either through deja vu, premonitions, or dreams and nightmares, and these moments are what cause us anxiety, emptiness, loneliness, and melancholy; to know that life is but an instant, happening all at once, vast and extreme, but ultimately, and hauntingly meaningless. Not that this is the overarching concept or meaning behind the new Mount Eerie record Clear Moon, but it was something that kept drifting in and out of my mind while it drifted in and out of head. Part of a two album cycle, Clear Moon is Phil Elverum's first release this year (the second being Ocean's Roar, due in the fall), and is said to be his contemplation of growing up and living quietly in a small northwest town and how brief moments of clarity break through. The record was recorded in a de-sanctified church using only analog equipment, and has a gorgeous other-worldly sound and feel to it. Elverum allows the record to be deeply personal but also universal. We have all at some point in our daily lives been overwhelmed by the vastness of the world and existence, and Clear Moon is almost the perfect encapsulation of those moments.
The flip side to Clear Moon, Ocean Roar sonically is cast from a similar mold, the presentation is far louder, distorted, aggressive, and sloppier, exchanging the internal contemplation for external strum and drang. The press release describes Ocean Roar as “the audio equivalent of the blanket of thick dark water vapor that covers the Pacific Northwest for most of the year, revealing only brief glimpses of illumination..." insisting that these are not songs per se but “studies in sound, attempts to alter the way the brain experiences its surroundings after being subjected to endless chords, repeating note flurries, stretched drones. It’s 'psychedelic' in same way as seasickness or vertigo. Warmth and distortion, burning driftwood, 9 months of rain.” While it is a rather obtuse description of the album, after listening to it, it begins to make sense. Most of the tracks are well north of 5 minutes long, taking the time to explore repetition, drone, and the ugly with the beautiful. Ocean Roar feels like Elverum needed to open the door to the church he records in and get outside his head for awhile and breathe the fresh air and explore the environs of the Pacific Northwest.
21. Yeasayer - Fragrant World
On their 2007 debut album All Hour Cymbals, Yeasayer epitomized the height of Brooklyn hipster cool, merging all sorts of world music genres into a surprisingly cohesive mix of dancey electronic pop. 2010's Odd Blood found them trying to expand upon that sound, and while featuring some really great tracks, seemed to be a little too much too soon, as if their vision was greater than their abilities. On their third album Fragrant World it feels like those abilities have finally coalesced, delivering 11 tracks that each stand on their own and also function as a whole, seamlessly flowing together. Working more from a electronic bent, Fragrant World is a swirling mix of gorgeous electronic atmospheres, hooky synth lines, dense drum programming and percussion, and tweaked and pitch shifted vocals.
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