Somehow it's December already.

I'll write some reviews on new music, hoorary! Just going to do random. If you have a request, I might do it too. And I just re-read a big part of the 2010 thread and realize that most of my reviews are about 3/4 me talking about my history with the band and 1/4 talking about the music. I'm a bad writer and love talking about myself. Sue me.


Opeth - Heritage

As far as major genres go, I probably download and listen to less metal and heavy music than anything else. There is usually a strong push for me to try out a bunch of metal albums I read about on year-end lists in December, but for the rest of the year the genre is basically non-existent to me.

This year, I made a conscious effort to listen to more heavy music, though I have found in the last year or so that my tastes have drastically changed from liking extreme, black metal-like sounds to the more psychedelic, stoner, Kyuss-like bands. Even so, while listening to a lot of heavy music in the last few months, there hasn’t been much that has stood out to me. Sad too, considering that there were quality releases from some bands that I consider some of my favorites of the past decade (Mastodon, Skeletonwitch, Wolves in the Throne Room).

Regardless, I started this new review regime by just hitting shuffle on my iPod and the first song that popped up was the opening track of Opeth’s 10th album, “Heritage”. Now, this was surprising to me, because I didn’t know Opeth even had an album this year and I definitely don’t remember downloading it. They’re a band I enjoy for the most part and I always give their releases a try because their fans can be very convincing (and very off-putting), but I’ve never had any real emotional reaction to one of their albums, despite the era it was recorded or genre it employed.

“Heritage” is a lighter Opeth album, it’s proggy in the absolute way you would expect a heavy metal band to be. It’s technically proficient, sure. The writing is bombastic and silly, sure. But it’s actually…idk, boring. I listened to the album twice today and it’s just not for me. It faded into the background most of the time, despite using quality headphones, and when I was trying to pay attention, I was just getting annoyed.

I won’t say it takes all the bad parts of progressive metal, because I think the people who like this record are totally justified. It’s not offensive, but it’s just not interesting to me. And it even has flutes. If you can’t win me over with flutes, well then…I’m going to forget ya.

Bottom Line: Eh. Whatever. This album exists, I guess.

Better than 99% off 'heavy' out there, but for an Opeth record, it is somewhat boring....they set a high bar.

Another shitty record from shitty, shitty opeth

Cool that you're doing this. I look forward to seeing more.

I kind of like Ghost Reveries, but I don't really care about Opeth very much.

Feist - Metals

I've been smitten with Feist for almost 10 years at this point. I loved the tracks she sung on with Broken Social Scene, before knowing she was a solo musician in her own right. I loved "Let It Die" instantly, despite sounding unlike anything else I was listening to at the time (or any time before then). "The Reminder" has this timeless quality about it for me. I've written in the past that the record is one of those few records I have that I can put on when nothing else sounds good to me. It's in the same vein of other "lite" pop records that are nevertheless endlessly entertaining to me: "Graceland", "Abandoned Luncheonette" and "Rumours". Against cred (and sounding like my mom), these are records that I go back to time and again, and I'm not ashamed to put Feist in that category.

The strained yet soft voice, the interesting arrangements, the willingness to criss-cross genre lines without sacrificing the root of her songs, she's just one of my favorite artists working and it means all the more when I continually try to get into other modern female vocalists or "chanteuses" and very rarely find any I can last more than a few songs with.

I'm not going to deny that her music is perfectly suited for commercials (as it obviously has been - which more or less led to her presenting at the Grammys with Snoop Dogg years ago in a totally surreal moment), I'm not going to deny that her music is something you can put on quietly at conservative social gatherings and use as aural wallpaper. It's perfect for that too. But listening to Feist, and especially listening to "Metals", you find that her records work best while listening alone, really taking the songs in.

Many of Feist's songs have these undeniable hooks, so going into "Metals" I expected to be immediately blown away. But after a couple listens I was sorely disappointed with the record. I took a couple weeks off from listening to it, have since listened to it endlessly this week and feel this:

This might very well be Feist's strongest record.

It's certainly her most personal. It's her most stripped down, and it is probably the most cohesive. I won't go out and say this is her "artistic statement" or anything, because that slights her other work, but this record is really strong and in the future will be one in which we look at her as a singer/songwriter and remember her by.

"The Bad In Each Other" is a fantastic opener, heavy drum percussion, male/female harmonies, horns and strings. It's the kind of thing that Beck was trying to do with Charlotte Gainsbourg's last album, but wasn't able to pull off. It's an ambitious opening and the close of the track is one of my favorite things in music all year. "Graveyard" is a chilling track with a repeated line that will be stuck in your head for days. "How Come You Never Go There" is the closest thing to a single and a perfect choice for the radio. Yeah, it's probably being played on your local adult contemporary station right now, but I doubt there's anything else on that frequency that sounds like it - distorted guitar and all. "A Commotion" has this jarring male shouted chorus that sticks out from the pack but the production and build in the track gives it this feeling of a lost Spoon track. "Bittersweet Melodies" has some corny bird-referencing lyrics, but when Feist sings it - you just believe in what she's singing and the beauty of the track continues to shine through.

Look, I realize I gush when I review Feist records, but I think they're complete statements. They seem effortless, without sounding saccharine and Norah Jones-ey. You might still be hesitant to like Feist or find that it's too soft for your tastes, but I feel bad for you. With "Metals", she's cemented herself as one of the few modern musicians that I can't do without.

In Summary: I love this fucking record

only just picked that one up a week or so ago, but have been enjoying it a lot. good portland winter music.

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Here We Rest

There's a reason that "Decoration Day" and "The Dirty South" are my favorite Drive-By Truckers albums; they have Jason Isbell. "Outfit" and "Goddamn Lonely Love" might very well be my two favorite DBT songs, both products of his sound. Isbell's voice suited the music perfectly and always left me wanting more songs from him on their albums. When he left the band, I was crushed - and in a way I still am, as I haven't fully loved a DBT record since "The Dirty South". But regardless, I want to support Isbell.

His first solo record was spotty at best, but lacked that fierceness that being in DBT gave him. Tracks like "Dress Blues" and "Chicago Promenade" slayed me, but there was this sleek cheesiness in a lot of the other tracks that eventually turned me off the record. His second record (and first with the 400 Unit) was a mess, nearly unlistenable for me. It came off as confused and downtrodden but still in this awkward pop-country-rock-college dorm room mold. There might have been some tracks that I liked, but I didn't give it the time of day because the bad outweighed the good.

"Here We Rest" is undoubtedly his best album so far...but it's not close to as good as he's capable. "Alabama Pines" is a fantastic opener, really one of the standout country/rock songs of the year for me (as is "Codeine and "Daisy Mae"), and there is a bit of a fierceness, a crunch back on some of these songs. "Go It Alone" sounds anthemic without having to use an actual call to arms. Isbell isn't treading new ground here, it's more of the same that you can expect from one of his songs, just a little more focused than his last album.

But while there are some definite high-points, there plenty of moments of middling country-rock ("The Ballad of Nobeard") that are thankfully mostly saved because of Isbell's great voice. But track 9, "Heart on a String" is almost bad enough to ruin the entire album. If "Alabama Pines" is one of the strongest tracks of the year, "Heart on a String" is one of the worst. This song could fit nicely alongside the Zac Brown Band and OAR and whoever else is polluting the airwaves right now. "Save it For Sunday" isn't much better, but "Tour of Duty" luckily brings it back to pretty good.

Regardless, it's a step up from the travesty of his last album and leaves me thinking that Isbell is finally coming into his own, on his own. It could be the sound that he wants isn't the sound I want from him, but god - when he writes those heart-wrenching slow, drowning in my beer country songs, there's few alive who can compete.

So he should go ahead and just do that, ok?

Bottom Line: His best solo record, but you gotta know he can still do better

Scuba - DJ-Kicks

I spent a lot of time this year really trying to stay on top of electronic music. I don't know what it was, but sometime late in 2010 something sparked in me and basically all I listened to between December and July was whatever various techno and dance music blogs were telling me I should be checking out.

Scuba is a producer/DJ I've been familiar with for the last few years and have actually enjoyed quite a bit. His sound for the most part is this great fusion of dark techno and non-wobbly "dubstep" that hits pretty hard. His "sub:stance" mix last year was one of my favorite mix cds and his own album "Triangulation" was among my favorite electronic LPs. But for whatever reason, whether I was leaning towards a different sound or what, when his volume of the "DJ-Kicks" series (an almost flawless series) came out this fall, it didn't grab me at first.

Even though I've been trying to immerse myself in dance music, I still come from a background where a "mix" is someone choosing 10-20 songs, assessing a theme and putting them together, allowing me, as the listener to pick out favorite tracks and look for artists I can explore on my own. With this mix, Scuba doesn't do that. Instead, he takes you on a journey, creates a feeling and sound that doesn't change much over the course of 60 minutes - and while he has selected 30+ tracks, he has made a mix that sounds like one, complete whole. And that's why I didn't really dig this at first.

The tracks he's picked for this mix come from a "who's who" list of popular and forward-thinking Bass and techno producers in 2011. Names like Surgeon, Addison Groove, Roska, George Fitzgerald, Boddika, etc. These are the movers and shakers of the club scene as far as I understand it and responsible for some of the best dance tracks of the past couple years - but Scuba's mix doesn't let them take the spotlight from him. Essentially, what he's done is taken the strength of each track, found the right tempo that the tracks work into each other perfectly (he's said that over the course of the mix the BPM gradually slows down by like 10), and filtered everything through his own somewhat darker take on dance music. If you're not into the genre, it's going to sound like a lot of repeating drums and synth plinks, if you are into the genre, you probably already know this mix and love it.

It works great as headphone music, it works great in the car. And while I thought it was repetitive and unchanging the first couple times I tried it, the mix has revealed itself to just be so carefully worked, that I can spot when a track changes and find myself in awe of the various high points throughout. If you're going to listen to it, listen to the whole thing, it's meant to be that way, it's a really great set and another success in the DJ-Kicks series.

In Summary: I realize this isn't for everyone. It's not even really for me, but if you're in the mood and interested in the dynamics of carefully chosen dance mixes - give it a try.

I like "Heart On A String" on that Isbell record for all the reasons that you hate it: It reminds of a certain kind of long gone Southern Fried Rock FM radio format that I grew up with.

"Next up, Mother's Finest."

it sounds like goddamn john butler trio or something

Graveyard - Hisingen Blues

It's often hard for me to accurately assess my enjoyment of albums like Graveyard's "Hisingen Blues". The reason being is primarily the genre it finds itself in and the history of incredible albums that already exist there. You see, Graveyard is a Swedish band who happens to be one of the very best throwback hard rock bands in existence. You get bits of Deep Purple, Mountain and a whole lot of Led Zeppelin. There is a distorted, extended, electric blues throughout and it all just JAMS. But I can't really enjoy it on it's own terms.

Which is sad to say because you know, everything is based on something. But when you take a type of music that seems so reminiscent of a specific time and place, trying to copy that sound is a gamble. It's the same reason that vocal jazz doesn't really work past the 1950s, why Progressive Rock can never actually sound like Yes. Why very few retro-thinking country musicians actually sound like authentic old country. Technology improves, and whether we choose to use cutting edge tech to record our music or not, it's going to be there and if we choose to use equipment that is 40 years old, well - you're a phony.

This isn't a slam to Graveyard, because like I said - for this sound, they are one of the very best bands doing this. They're their own band (unlike say - Wolfmother), but it just doesn't really work for me. The vocals might be too polished that they are almost fucking Chris Cornell-esque, and they aren't charismatic enough to reach the levels of 1970s Robert Plant. Some of the solos and passages in the songs are awesome, but more often than not the album focuses on really ROCKING out, and when the band chooses to do that, I find it hard to differentiate their sound from the countless other southern rock bands or European bands doing similar things. After listening to this album a half dozen times, the only track that really sticks with me is "Longing" and that's an instrumental track. It shows them trying something a little different, a little more modern.

At the same time, if this type of hard rock is your thing, fuck it: crank up your volume, open your windows and play the drums on your desk. I won't condemn you, but you could probably just as easily listen to the bands Graveyard did when recording this.

In Summary: Not bad I guess, but I don't like it enough to want to hear it over other rock records.

After liking the band's first record, I only got around to hearing this one maybe a month ago. I love it, and it will fall somewhere between 20-25 in my year end list.

I don't know who that is but I love you passionate dislike for it.

a more apt comparison would've been recent Ray Lamontagne

The Antlers - Burst Apart

For still being a relatively unknown (to the public at large) indie rock band, I bet you'd be surprised by the number of people who claimed their life was changed with The Antlers' last release "Hospice". It was a shockingly depressing, personal account of Peter Silberman that just verged on uncomfortable from time to time. For me, I recognized the feat of the album, respected the musicianship and songwriting - but it just didn't click. I never wanted to (and still never do) want to listen to that album. It stares at me and I just stare back. It's not really my thing.

So I didn't have high hopes for "Burst Apart", but this is the album that just won't go away, no matter how much I try. As far as rock goes, I've maybe listened to this album more than any other from this year for the simple fact that I keep thinking that I want to delete it. I keep trying to convince myself that I don't actually like this band and it's just foolish because this is a gorgeous record, one that I can't deny.

There are some albums where it doesn't really matter what the singer is singing about because the music itself is what lifts it. This is one of those albums. I'm sure the lyrics are still really depressing and I get glimpses of them here and there, but they aren't what is important to me right now about The Antlers. In the 40 minutes that this album takes, it just drifts by like a dream without ever really being "dreamy". It's memorable pop music that happens to move at a really slow pace. It could find it's place among the shoegaze and dream pop classics of the early 90s, but it feels perfectly in place in 2011. I'm still not going to be an album that I'm going to put on a best ever list and I can't be one of those people claiming that The Antlers changed my life, but this is going to be one of those records that I can put on whenever and just know that I'll have a pleasant time listening to it. Maybe I made that realization a long time ago, and never really was trying to delete it.

In Summary: A really pretty record.

mix of the year imo!

I felt the same about the last record. What's the fuss about? But, I am in that middle road on this one. It needs more spins, and it has my attention, but not my favor yet.

Couldn't get into that Antlers record. I never really listened to the previous one.

Perspective is an interesting thing. I'm with Bloor, I find "Heart on a String" to be the 2nd best song on the album behind "Codeine" and one of the best songs he's done. Love the sort of cajun-soul vibe it puts out.

I wouldn't say second best but I like the song. It was also very good live.

Jamie Woon - Mirrorwriting

In the post-dubstep, R&B influenced world, the Brits are leading the way. The XX put out an all-time classic album two years ago and Jamie XX has more or less become the de facto producer for everyone hip, urban and cool. James Blake is one of the most blogged about artist since the blogging crazy began, and his unique take on electronic and vocal music has justified his position at the top. Katy B has this great crossover appeal because she is essentially writing more thoughtful and modern late 90s-era dance pop songs. And Jamie Woon? Well, he's got a large mass of fans, but in the USA at least, he's somehow been pushed aside, despite being about the first one with the sound.

Woon came out in 2006 with his cover of "Wayfaring Stranger", which is a track I still love. Stripped down, dark, with his clear vocal throughout. Somehow, it took 5 years for his debut to come out, and by the time it did, despite positive British press as one of the new artists to watch, he'd been mostly forgotten.

It's a shame too, because while his sound isn't as forward thinking as Blake or Jamie XX or those folks, I think that Woon has the most mass market appeal. Standing in front of the nearly dubstep production, Woon's crystal clear voice might put some people off, but for those of us that are fans of some of the more pop-oriented Neo Soul artists, Jamie Lidell, Hall & Oates, and hell - 80s pop music, you should be able to find something here.

But don't let that description put you off, because while you can gather a lot of influences in Woon's music, it nevertheless sounds completely modern. Some lyrics are off-putting or corny, but that's part of the charm. The production is top notch and while it never quite has the intense bass rumble of James Blake, everything has great, clear drums and these crescendos that leave the song choruses stuck in your head for days.

What this album has become for me is something very akin to what Feist is able to do with her releases. It's an album I play when I have people in my car and don't want to throw them off, or ignore them but still put on something we can groove to. It plays great in the warm sunshine, but it works even better as a "night bus" record, rolling around in the city lights.

Above all, it's just an endlessly pretty record. I find it more "musical" than Blake's vocal offerings, but not quite as forward thinking. That being said, I've listened to it about twice as much as Blake and almost as much as anything else released this year. Like a lot of the best pop records: it doesn't have to blow your mind to want here it over and over. And I do.

In Summary: Let go of your willingness to just enjoy a record and vibe the fuck out.

Veronica Falls - Veronica Falls

Every year I get into these bouts of listening solely to indie pop. Sarah Records, Belle & Sebastian, more modern stuff, everything in between and through to someone like Vampire Weekend. It usually comes at a darker time of the year where I want to enliven myself and just cheer up. Give me those jangly guitars, please. I didn't really have one of those times this year, but I did attempt to find quite a few indie pop records, and one that was recommended to me by a few people was the debut full length by Veronica Falls.

Now, initially someone described this as a something akin to Jesus & Mary Chain, but that's way off. This is more in the Talulah Gosh, late 80s Sarah Records sound. The music to soundtrack a mid-90s coming of age, teen movie. The distortion is heavy throughout, both in the guitars and the vocals, but this is by no means a shoegaze record and the pace is mostly brisk enough that it doesn't find itself on the dreamier side of the spectrum either.

Which might actually hurt the record, because what we get is a pretty straightforward record, where the first half has the more upbeat, bop-along tracks, while the second half gets dragged down by the more mid-tempo numbers.

This record isn't going to blow anyone away, but it can definitely find a crowd of people who could really enjoy it. Me? I enjoy about half of it. I think the band has their sound down much better on the more ripping tracks. Since the band doesn't really bring anything new to the table musically, the faster tracks are just more fun and therefore enjoyable. When the second half hits, the music just sounds derivative of the genre and lesser than the first half of the album. A sort of, "so what?" feeling.

Listen, lots of my favorite records every year are records that are just "enjoyable", I don't need things that are breaking new ground or shredding my eardrums, but there are dozens of bands around that tweak this particular sound enough to be a bit more interesting. Still, if you like Pains of Being Pure at Heart, you could probably find something to like here. I think Veronica Falls is better than most of what that band conjures up, but also sort of just stays there...in the middle.

In Summary: Not a bad record, not a good record.

Vijay Iyer - Tirtha

It took me a long time to come to grips with "fusion". Jazz was jazz. Ethnic music was ethnic music. Rock n Roll was rock n roll, these are separate entities and should stay as such. Somewhere within the last few years though, I started to loosen my reins on these distinctions. I have a fair amount of terribly corny "electric" jazz albums from the 70s, the kind of shit that guy who still sports a backwards kangol and violent tinted glasses might listen to. It's bizarre, it's nerdy, and I can respect it as such. Though most of the musicians are deadly serious, it's like listening to Rush or Yes - the joy of listening to it comes from just letting go. You'd never make this music yourself, but you might just put it on and start a game of D&D.

That all being said, part of the charm comes from the time-period. I have a hard enough time as it is listening to modern jazz. I try and I try, I acquire dozens of albums every year and find most of them forgettable, if not overly glossy and absurd. But I try. And for the last couple years, I've been trying with Vijay Iyer - the pianist/composer who seems intent on putting out critically acclaimed albums every month. Some things I've heard with him as a leader have been pretty good, some have been really terrible. Nothing has been great. But I tried again with "Tirtha" this year, which is another blend of modern jazz and modern Indian music. Iyer leads the group on piano, Prasanna weaves through the tracks with his best Metheny guitar licks and Nitin Mitta brings it all together to the massage parlor on the tablas.

Or rather, doesn't bring it together. On paper, this is something I could really dig and all the players are obviously immensely talented, but this just comes off as really lite. It's pretty music to be sure, but there isn't anything interesting enough here to make you want to listen to it without some hot oils and incense. Maybe that is short-sighted, because of the Eastern influences, but I don't think so. I just don't actually think these styles blend very well, in any sort of "hey, this sounds like a good thing to listen to!" way. All that said, I'd probably go see this trio live and totally vibe out, but listening to it at home...pass. This is sauna music.

In Summary: Talented players and some cool solos, but it mostly just strengthens all the negative stereotypes about modern jazz

Tom Waits - Bad As Me

I don't really have anything special to say about Tom Waits. He's important to a great many people, just like he is to me. I can tell you about the papers I've written about him in school, the "speech" I gave about him my freshman year of college. I can talk to you about him being the first musician I've ever felt compelled to acquire an entire discography worth of music. About how I have seen all the movies he's in and hold particular scenes memorable. How the lone times I watch late night talk shows are those when he's a guest. I don't know if you remember years ago when he was on The Daily Show, but it was about the only time that Jon Stewart seemed nervous or in awe of the person sitting across his desk. That's how I'd be. Tom Waits is our treasure, and at age 61 he's put out one of his best albums in a long career of great ones.

Obviously, he doesn't too many albums out any more and that's fine. It gives me more time to get into them, even if I don't think anything he's done in the last 15 years is particularly great. I respect "Mule Variations" and understand the regard in which it's held, but I just haven't taken the time to really enjoy it. I like the concepts of "Alice" and "Blood Money", but both albums have huge faults. "Real Gone" might be my least favorite Tom Waits album, even if it does have the occasional beauty. But "Bad As Me"? This is the Tom Waits I love. Making a conscious effort to make short, more-straightforward songs, "Bad As Me" still sounds like Tom Waits, but for the first time in quite a while, you can actually the music to stuff you actually listen to.

I've always been a bigger fan of Waits' piano ballads, where his voice really just sounds like that genius drunk at your favorite dive bar. It sets a scene in your mind without actually trying. He's amongst the best "crooners" ever, and thankfully there are a few tracks here that in that style. But elsewhere, Waits is helped out by some brilliant musicians, Marc Ribot and Keith Richards on guitar, his son on percussion, Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica (and probably other things). The rockabilly tracks really rock. Through the course of 13 tracks and 45 minutes, Tom Waits basically takes us on a journey through his own brand of twisted America. And I love it.

In Summary: Fantastic record that has trimmed some of the glut from the last few releases

well said, I was hoping for more with that album