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My picks for the Best Albums Of 2011 so far, in order, below (plus samples for some);
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Eleventh Dream Day: Riot Now!
New York Dolls: Dancing Backward In High Heels
Wanda Jackson: The Party Ain’t Over
SYCH (Wally Shoup, C. Spencer Yeh, Chris Corsano, Bill Horist): Lunar Roulette
Faust: Something Dirty
Sonny Simmons And Delphine Latil: Symphony Of The Peacocks
Low: C’mon
Looking forward to hearing: Wire, Gang Of Four, Rush, Feelies, Poly Styrene
Your picks and/or thoughts?
Working as little as possible for the Yankee Dollar,
– Andrew Hamlin
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“Yeah, I actually studied for the priesthood…”
“How come you didn’t get in?”
“I’m not gay!”
–overheard at the Hula Hula last Friday night
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zvMtdsMNwg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVUGCoBPLMI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lpd9BQtgCpU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeJSfWYXUA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWdC8juULNw
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Hi Andy:
I like ca. 2011 Wire a lot, new Go4 a bit less [though I loved their Showbox gig in Feb], and look forward to hearing EDD, Dolls, Wanda, Faust, Feelies & Poly S, the last of which I was as yet unaware of.
And I look forward to seeing The English Beat tomorrow, Roy Loney on Friday, Wire next week, the Hubert Sumlin-led tribute to Pinetop Perkins in three weeks, The Psych Furs in May, and….hmmm….Bumbershoot in September.
My thoughts, if any, would be that if the most compelling rock or pop music of 1970/80/90 had been largely-if-not-exclusively made by 25-to-55-year Music Biz "veterans" [or "Legacy Artists", to use the unfortunate biz parlance], I’d wonder what the heck happened to the emergent vibrance of my musical scene….and why?!
Of course Tim Cook has found tons of pretty good new-ish punk and lo-fi pop bands to champion in recent years [Tyvek, The Oh Sees, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, et many al.], some of whom I do like, though less than he, but you get my drift, which will undoubtedly strike you as my same-old/same-old.
But now even YOU are apparently not finding any meaningfully "new" musical artists to tout in 2011, Andy, which surprises me a little.
What are we to make of this trend, if that’s all it is? Or are we now reduced to finding compelling "new" releases mostly via the "Reissues" section of MOJO?!
Damn, could I use a New Punk, or even a New Grunge, since a New Joy Division or VU is unimaginable!
Hell, I’d settle for a New Soundgarden [‘cept the old one’s back] or even a New Bush [did they actually break up?] right about now! LOL
Hip-Hop is now pseudo-Prog Rock R & B made in a lesser Brill Building [King Crimson + Whitney Houston/Bobby Brown + Phil Spector, though not
as interesting as that sounds!], and the biggest stars in Pop emerge via the 21st Century schizoid equivalent of Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour.
The, ahem, "Physical Album" is said to be dead [though one can purchase more of them than EVER BEFORE], but all the leading crits can talk about is who "should" make the cut on Idol, i.e. The 21st C. EoTMAH.
Meantime, I’ll just keep looking for another good young "local" band to support every month [cf. Cober, The Histrionics and The Bismarck, last decade here in Seattle] and keep catching up with the vastness o’ The Musical Past….
Please do share any hot tips along said (local) lines,
– Tom Kipp
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> My thoughts, if any, would be that if the most compelling rock or pop music
> of 1970/80/90 had been largely-if-not-exclusively made by 25-to-55-year
> Music Biz “veterans” [or “Legacy Artists”, to use the unfortunate biz
> parlance], I’d wonder what the heck happened to the emergent vibrance of my
> musical scene….and why?!
>
> Of course Tim Cook has found tons of pretty good new-ish punk and lo-fi pop
> bands to champion in recent years [Tyvek, The Oh Sees, Eddy Current
> Suppression Ring, et many al.], some of whom I do like, though less than he,
> but you get my drift, which will undoubtedly strike you as my
> same-old/same-old.
Not quite. I perceive a *slight* tactical shift between “Resolved: There Is Nothing Worth Listening To Post-1995,” and “Resolved: Anything *Possibly* Worth Listening To In 2011 Specifically, Is From Older Artists And So Doesn’t Really Count.”
A subtle shift. But one hair-split, at least, removed.
Your thoughts on the songs I provided?
> But now even YOU are apparently not finding any meaningfully “new” musical
> artists to tout in 2011, Andy, which surprises me a little.
*shrug* The year is young yet. If you examine my ballot from 2010:
http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/critics/2010/685764/
…you’ll notice that seven out of ten artists (everyone *except* Meat Loaf, Jimi, and Paul Motian), came to prominence in 1995 or later. And Elizabeth Cook just missed my list.
> Hip-Hop is now pseudo-Prog Rock R & B made in a lesser Brill Building [King
> Crimson + Whitney Houston/Bobby Brown + Phil Spector, though not as
> interesting as that sounds!], and the biggest stars in Pop emerge via the
> 21st Century schizoid equivalent of Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour.
Assuming you refer to “American Idol,” I always equate it with “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts,” a show which sent packing a certain young man from Texas, and a certain young man from Tennessee. Their names were…anyone?…anyone?…Bueller?
> Meantime, I’ll just keep looking for another good young “local” band to
> support every month [cf. Cober, The Histrionics and The Bismarck, last
> decade here in Seattle] and keep catching up with the vastness o’ The
> Musical Past….
Get the new Smoosh! (Something tells me you haven’t yet.)
Helpfully,
– Andrew Hamlin
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Hi Andy:
No "shift". My former position was that The Great Album had largely died out, post-1995. And it has.
As I have freely admitted in past communiques, however, the amount of "good" music has likely increased, though not to the degree that the immensity of releases would lead one to hope.
Unfortunately that doesn’t excite me much, especially in the
absence of a Pistols or Nirvana to give it context and to really excite me in the first place!
My point today is simply to ask, "Where are The Great New Artistes?"
The Wire album is good, but not at quite the level of their worst 1970s album [154] much less their two best!
In fact it is arguably not quite as good as their fine efforts from 1986, 1988, 1990 and 2007.
I want the occasional record that makes me yell its praises and jump around the room. The past provided hundreds of such albums, if not a thousand or two. The ’00s, not much. 2011, who knows?
Re: your 2010 ballot:
To say that you are encouraged about "new artists"because 7 of your top 10 emerged post-1995, is like saying you’re encouraged by EMOTIONAL RESCUE in 1980, or Tom Petty’s INTO THE GREAT WIDE OPEN in 1991. I’m sorry, those are old fogey expanses of time, Andy!
Pavement’s first recording is now the mid-way point between today and SERGEANT PEPPER! The Sex Pistols were closer to Beatlemania than we are to 1995, for Jah’s sake!
Show me an excellent debut album, please!
Best regards,
– Tom Kipp
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I’m giving up on three things, this year. My own personal perma-Lent,
if you will. Henceforth, I abandon All Hope Of Ever Landing A Decent
Job, All Hope Of Ever Attracting A Lover, and All Hope Of Convincing
Tom That New Music Does Not Suck.
I daresay it’s a load off my chest…
If anyone’s interested, four other first-quarter candidates which I
foolishly left out first time around:
Six Organs Of Admittance: Asleep On The Floodplain
Gil Scott-Heron And Jamie xx: We’re New Here (which is odd since I
wasn’t knocked out by Scott-Heron’s original)
Kurt Elling: The Gate
J. Mascis: Several Shades of Why
Resignedly,
– Andrew Hamlin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnZeAce7Ac8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qw1ruj8YlE
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And how about the new Marianne Faithfull? Though that one does play into my "biz veterans theory"….
By the by, Andy, there’s a vast gulf between my contention that there may well be more "good music" [if very little Great Music] being made/released today than ever before, and your translation of that into "Tom says, ‘All new music sucks’."
I’m open to anything really dazzling musically, in virtually any genre, just as I’ve been since birth!
And even to most things that are the least little bit dazzling!
But I won’t inflate grades to make a quota….
Thanks,
– Tom Kipp
P.S. I’m quite fond of The Magik Markers, with whom I became familiar after watching their amazing guitar slinger/singer Elisa Ambrosio sit in with your Six Organs of Admittance at Nectar Lounge [opening for The Dead C.] a few years ago! Their vinyl-only/non-cd-r debut album came out on Thurston’s Ecstatic Peace label in 2005, and their BOSS [E. Peace, 2007] & BALF QUARRY [Drag City, 2009] are among my favorite albums of recent years. Plus, their live shows smoke, if the one I later saw at Chop Suey is any indication!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tgWkItPGd4
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