Logan Lynn is an artist out of that aural metropolis we call Portland, Oregon that has recently been signed to the Dandy Warhol’s “Beat the World” label. His new album “From Pillar to Post” is an emotional journey through sprawling soundscapes of sparkling pop melodies and jagged glitchy beats. As the press release on his page says; “He Puts the “Disco” back in “Discomfort”.
Even though Mr. Lynn’s music is just now coming to my attention, he has been at it a while. He has released 2 albums since 2000. The first was entitled “Glee” and was a combination of optimistic beats and electronics with heart wrenching lyrics and themes. His self-titled sophomore effort was released in 2006. Following a collaboration with Carlos Cortes of the Portland DJ collective ‘Assemble’ on the track “Feed Me to the Wolves”, the two decided to work on a full album together. This album is the aforementioned “From Pillar to Post”.
The lead single “Burning Your Glory” plods along with ethereal guitar melodies accented by synth tones that drop like pins in a silent room. Each crystalline tone has the potential to send a chill down your spine. Other tracks like the excellent “Feed Me to the Wolves” pick up the pace, but don’t expect all out dancefloor funkiness, but rather mood pieces that whirl by like streetlights on a long drive home.
There hasn’t been a release with this level of “bloody heart on sleeve” emotion tied to an electronica project since The Postal Service’s “Give Up” in 2003. Others have matched The Postal Services musicality over the years, but Logan Lynn’s lyrics and delivery drip with digitized drama and pathos.
This year has been a surprising one for music. After last year I thought to myself, “How could this year possibly be better than last year for music?” And you know what? Album after album I was shocked, no musical lull in sight. Nothing but quality as far as the eye could see. Well, quality in terms of the albums I was looking for. In particular, bands that released somewhat unimpressive sophomore albums came back this year with some intense and riveting releases. Bloc Party, The Stills, The Killers, and Longwave all regrouped and recalibrated to create releases that will please initial fans as well as fans of their new directions.
Without further ado I bring you the AZLTRON Top 10 Albums of 2008.
10.The Notwist – The Devil, You & Me
The Notwist released their first album since their 2002 stylistic breakthrough Neon Golden this year. This album features a more linear song structure, less blips and clicks, and it is all the better for it. The best songs are built off of acoustic guitar chords and Marc Acher’s saccharine voice. Added into the mix occasionally are emotionally charged tremolo strings and minor key flourishes. A listen to the album from beginning to end runs a full emotional gamut from uncertainty, to sadness, to elation. The Notwist have done it again.
M83 came back this year in a big way. Anthony Gonzalez continues to plug away after the departure of Nicolas Fromageau and the towering sound of M83 has never been more accessible. Emotionally charged piano instrumentals to full on 80′s pop songs surge and percolate throughout the entire album. If there is a director out there trying to ellicit intense emotion from viewers using only music, there’s not an album out there that can reduce a listener to tears and then convert those tears to joy by the end of the album.
Boohoo has crafted an album that combines two of my favorite genres, delicate indie pop as well as touching electro pop. Normally you’d think that bleeps and blips next to glockenspiel and acoustic guitar and heavenly melodies wouldn’t normally work. Normally, you’d be right. Boohoo combines them together in such a way where it makes sense somehow that solo acoustic guitar song should come right after an electro twee jam. It’s a further testament to the album that the topics of the songs revolve around television shows, tabloid magazines, and of course grocery stores. Fans of Peter Bjorn & John and Jens Lekman will find a lot to love here.
The Killers hung up their Vegas suits and synths and grew moustaches. Their music morphed into christian country tinged post punk imitations of Bruce Springsteen in an attempt to prove that they weren’t a one trick pony at the new wave revival ranch. They accomplished this mission with their sophomore release Sam’s Town and even unleashed an epic single to rival anything they’ve done in When You Were Young. But where were the sleek synths and dance rhythms that drew so many people into their music in 2004? They were present, but with about a pound of sawdust draped over them. On Day & Age, they haven’t abandoned their new found dusty direction, but they’ve enhanced it with everything that they know they do well with a pinch of a spicy something new. Now, not only huge guitars, smooth synths, and dancebeats mark the album but saxophone and steel drums make an appearance as well. The Killers have reabsorbed their best influences and show of some new influences to make an album that is undoubtedly all killer and no filler.
Mason Proper had a busy year this year; releasing not only their Shorthand EP, Jonathan Visger’s North South EP, but also a brand new full length entitled Olly Olly Oxen Free. The first song The Fog is a great rallying point for the rest of the album because it seems as if all the musical elements in this release are floating around in the atmosphere as a phosphorescent gas that they’ve somehow managed to capture and contain in a magical cauldron of musical goodness. Every element in their songs seems buoyant somehow, guitar riffs ring in the air and the vocals increase the precarious altitude of each song like helium in an untied balloon. Like riding in a glass elevator, Olly Olly Oxen Free is meticulous, utilitarian and spine tingling. Look down all you like.
5.David Byrne & Brian Eno – Everything That Happens Will Happen Today
Where else are you going to find two artists who are not only veterans of popular music but legends in thier own right, who continue to redefine the boundaries of what their music entails? Nowhere. David Byrne and Brian Eno have crafted a masterpiece here. Christening this new work as electric gospel. The term fits perfectly, the work here is largely uplifting major chords and David Byrne somehow manages to create an uplifting message out of lyrics like “I heard the sound of someone laughing, I saw my neighbor’s car explode”. Rife with bass percolation, soothing harmonies, and clever lyrics, you’ll be hard pressed to find an album this diverse that can please so many people.
Walter Meego’s Voyager is a cornucopia of electronic pop goodness. The first track Forever acts as the guy who starts the wave at a big stadium concert. It makes a big feel good splash that carries through till the end of the album. Justin Sconza’s helium tinged vocals accent perfectly the heavily phased bass processed synths. This album feels good to listen to. This isn’t just a feel good party starter, undoubtedly if you’re looking to get a party started you won’t find a better primer than Walter meego but, just as much attention is paid to the atmosphere and melodies as it is to beats. I’ll leave you with this: listen to Keyhole, it will blow your mind.
Longwave came back in a big way this year. Longwave was previously dropped from RCA after the departure of two of their band members. Even when they were unsigned and the future of the band was uncertain, Steve Schiltz and company strove to continue recording and playing. The Indie Label Original Signal
intelligently picked up Longwave and put out their latest album Secrets are Sinister which is such an incredible return to form you have to hear it to believe it. All the shoegaze elements from The Strangest Things are not only present, they are turned up to eleven. The guitars soar, the bass grinds with foundation shaking ferocity and Schiltz’s uplifting lyrics in the face of certain doom and gloom makes this one of the best releases of 2008.
Few artists these days can transport you to other worlds through just a few notes. Thieves Like Us does just that. We as the listeners are transported, after just a few finely produced arpeggio notes, into a world of not only late night debauchery and good times but also a land of neon grids and nobility. There is a majesty to the way that the electronic elements combine here. The synths just don’t play over the beats. They crash over them like waves on a rocky shore. The songs play out like an epic play. At times the beats kick in with reckless abandon, but the song after will masterfully describe the cost of living that way. The persistent bass throbs like a hangover after a heavy night of drinking or it pounds in your mind like a guilty conscience. It’s the songs that come after the more heady dramatic ones that stand out though, the songs of reconciliation, of coming to terms with what has transpired and making the best of it. These songs make Play Music an intensely emotional album and a collection of songs that I would be proud to have score the soundtrack of my life.
It’s been four long years since The Faint released a new full length album. But, luckily as soon as the bass on Get Seduced kicks in, you know the Faint are back and we are in for a treat. Todd Fink’s astute observational lyricism is this time directed at all kinds of sociological structures. From tabloids to religion, to the origin of the universe, to arguments with others and even arguments within yourself. Whenever I describe The Faint to people who have no idea what electronic/indie/punk is, I always say that their songs are very direct, very confrontational but also extremely intelligent, and Fasciinatiion has undoubtedly solidified that notion inside my skull. The Faint pick up right where they left off with Wet From Birth and without warning surge into uncharted territory like the rap-esque Fulcrum And Lever, to the razor sharp ballad Fish in a Womb. Every note of Fasciinatiion has been looked over, every effect finely tuned after endless tweaking. The album is wrapped in a warm blanket of sonic experimentation that will make it a gem for decades to come.
Gejiusis an electronic artist out of Portland, Oregon whose real name is Aaron. What a great name. His work features innovative and melodic uses of electronic instruments. His work on the track Makkuro Kurosuke even features some kind of Asian chant with ballad worthy piano. On his So Sad(Gravity/Love) remix he stretches the vocals 40 yards past autotune and plants it in the endzone of innovative electro. If I had to categorize it, I would say it’s like Radiohead, Mouse on Mars, and the Notwist roadtripping across the USA
The musical artist known as “Boo Hoo” is a 24 year old man named Bernhard Karakoulakis from Frankfurt Germany. He describes his music as “an antifolkish indietronic version of Simon and Garfunkel”. That’s not far off, his music is full of charming melodies and introspective lyrics. On his second release “Hypermarché”, Synths wash over glockenspiel and lo fi drum beats carry the whole affair like cartoon ants at a picnic. The songs featured here were recorded at his home and are mostly about shopping save for one song about robots. This song, called “Gakutensoku”, is “is partly inspired by the japanese robot Gakutensoku, partly by the movie “Brave Little Toaster” and partly by the “Wesley the Robot” strips” created by me, AZLTRON!
Gosh, I feel all important! But don’t think that I’m bias due to flattery, although I am honored that a man this talented would look to Wesley for inspiration, “Hypermarché” is the most complete crossover of two of my favorite genres that I’ve heard to date. Those two genres being lo-fi electro pop and melodic chamber pop. Boo Hoo glides effortlessly between the two. My only complaint is that the song “Nothing” really is nothing, two minutes and ten seconds of nothing. Other than that, this is an album of compelling beauty that is entertaining and insightful.
The Age of Rockets are a small unsigned band with a huge signable sound. Vocalist, programmer, keyboardist and guitarist, Andrew Futral, drummer and trumpet player Saul Simon Mcwilliams and bass, synth, glockenspiel and flute player Bess Rogers hail from New York Ciry. The three of them love making music together and have just recently released their sophomore album “Hanna”.
Their sound inhabits the space between orchestral pop and glitch heavy ballads. The album begins with sweeping synthesizers that give way to glorious harmonies and eventually gentle guitar and glockenspiel. Andrew Futral recently posted that he wanted to take the band in a more organic direction from their previously heavy electronic sounds. If the sound of the first few tracks is any indication, they have accomplished their mission. The soft melodies, harmonies, and understated glitch beats work together to create an album that is the most comprehensive successor to the Postal Service’s “Give Up”.
While the melodies, harmonies and rich lyrical content are the primary draws to their sophomore album “Hanna” there are some great pure rock moments here as well. Like the eruptions of guitar riffs on “H. Soft Escape”. Or the towering strings and ultra glitchy breaks on “Ship to Shore.”
The biggest pitfall The Age of Rockets could fall into is sounding to the passing ear as “Too Alike” to The Postal Service with Futral’s soft voice not sounding terribly different to Ben Gibbards saccharine croon. If anyone takes the time to listen to more than 10 seconds of a song, it should be readily apparent that their songs have greater cohesion and depth than that of the groundbreaking 2003 subpop collaboration between James Tamborello and Ben Gibbard. There’s not an unpleasant sound to be heard on “Hanna” and that’s sure to make them on many short lists for album of the year.
The groundbreaking German indie-rocktronica band, The Notwist, fresh off of the release of their first album in six years, “The Devil, You, and Me” are kicking off their new tour of North America tonight at Lee’s place in Toronto.
In celebration of this, we’ve received a few goodies. One of them being a video of the Notwist and the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra together performing “Boneless”, which also happens to be the Notwist’s latest single.
The next goodie that we’ve got for you is a “radical reworking” of track by Panda Bear of Animal collective.
To top it all off, I’ve even got the album version of “Boneless” to share with you all.
Gina & Tony are a duo from Genève, Switzerland whose new album “Moonbow” reveals many fascinating inspirations. The music feels like something you might hear in a retro futurist French cafe. Or a remix of a 1960′s James Bond movie soundtrack. Gina’s voice gives a visceral dose of ethereal cool to the electronic thumping and swooshing synth. The songs themselves are mellow enough where the listener decides if they’ll dance or not, but either way they’ll gently bob as visions of black turtlenecks, berets, and flying cars fill their heads.
On the cusp of summer and my full-time employment, I impart to you, my faithful readers this creation of mine, the dance mix antidote. But wait? Don’t I largely support dance music? Yes, but dance music is largely loud energetic and entices you to move. Which are all great things that I will continue to revel in at almost every opportunity, but you know what? Sometimes I get tired. I bet you do too. So why not bask in a collection of healing and soothing songs that will re-energize you for another synth/punk/indie/electro dance party? After all, we are not robots, no matter how much some of us might like to be. Sebastien Tellier – La Ritournelle (Jim Noir Mix)
My appreciation for the Notwist stems out of my quest during my freshman year of college to find as many artists that were comparable to the Postal Service as possible. You might say that that quest continues to this day. Anyway, along the course of this quest I found such artists as Styrofoam, Lali Puna, Ms. John Soda, Console, and of course the Notwist. I remember being compelled to purchase their album “Neon Golden” along with a copy of The Faint’s “Wet From Birth” when I found it in a Rochester record store. Their sound fascinated me, because it’s not outright folk/rock songwriting, and not outright experimental electronica. It’s some strange combination that is at once all and none of those things, engineered to be profoundly moving. I still can’t listen to “Neon Golden” without reliving all of those freshman year emotions.
For me, it doesn’t seem like that long since the Notwist released an album because I discovered them in 2004, and their co-album with Themselves under the name “13 + God” was released in 2005. Also the same time I’m reviewing their new album “The Devil, You + Me” I am also listening to their earlier records “12” and “Shrink” which are also excellent. You wouldn’t think it, but The Notwist were forged in the fires of metal and grunge in the late 80’s. Their early work is especially interesting for singer Marcus Acher’s gentle croons bumping against waves of guitar rock riffery.
The new album “The Devil, You + Me” at times hearkens back to that guitar driven sound, like on album opener “Good Lies” and “Alphabet”, but the distinct electro-symphonic style of Neon Golden is more prevalent here, and expanded upon. It’s hard to pick favorites at this point, but the tracks that are really speaking to me are “Boneless” and “Gone Gone Gone”. Overall, this is the experimental German band’s most fluid release to date, there are some glitchy adventures to be had here, but the best the album has to offer are the smooth melodic numbers enhanced by acoustic guitar and violin and of course Marcus Acher’s gentle voice imbibing us with pensive optimism. With each release the band gains more depth and produces new and interesting sounds, I’ve only listened to the new album a few times, but I think it’s their most satisfying and fluid release to date.
Here it is, the final installment of Wesley the Robot for this season. It’s been a good run this season and he might pop up somewhere this summer, who knows! Again I apologize for not posting a whole lot, finals and papers routinely kick my ass. After this Thursday I promise to start posting regularly again, I have so many bands to review. This summer is going to be awesome. Like usual here are some songs that I’ve been enjoying.
Logan Lynn is an artist out of that aural metropolis we call Portland, Oregon that has recently been signed to the Dandy Warhol’s “Beat the World” label. His new album “From Pillar to Post” is an emotional journey through sprawling soundscapes of sparkling pop melodies and jagged glitchy beats. As the press release on his page says; “He Puts the “Disco” back in “Discomfort”.
