Amplifying the music, books, movies and journalism that matter.
Life is complicated and busy. Did you notice? Keeping up with the music, movies and books that fed your youthful imagination and conversations is harder than ever, but even more important. Here's the good news: there's never been more great new stuff. The challenge is to find it.
So here are my highly opinionated views on sounds, sights and words that will help you keep it fresh and real, and links to the veins where the richest motherlodes can be found.
It doesn't get any more opinionated than this. Here's what was on "repeat" at my house in 2012:
Storm Queen, Look Right Through You - Let's get this party started. Yowsah, yowsah, yowsah.
Django Django, Hail Bop - Nothing to do with Tarentino; everything to do with the sound of psychedelia which, it turns out, never gets old.
Solange, Losing You - Her big sister may make all the noise but she is the real deal. This one will make you want to dance in the kitchen again, even by yourself. It's okay, really.
Passion Pit, Take A Walk - They were everywhere in 2012, but somehow not overplayed. Soundtrack for the "Fiscal Cliff"?
Vintage Trouble, Nobody Told Me - They opened for The Who"s latest tour. Pete still knows his "maximum R&B."
Tallest Man on Earth, 1904 - Soothing and strangely moving, as if it were blowing in the wind. Nudge, nudge.
Bruno Mars, Locked Out of Heaven - What Hall & Oates and Elton were to the 1970's, Mars is for the 2010's: brilliantly irresistible.
Cloud Nothings, Stay Useless -- Heirs to the Strokes, but with less posing. And oooh, I like it loud.
Frank Ocean, Sweet Life - Damn, just one song from the R&B album of the decade? Ok, then this one.
Michael Kiwanuka, I'm Getting Ready - Will I be listening to all ten of these tracks ten years from now? Maybe. This one? Absolutely.
It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by since I started this blog. Sharing great stuff as the year unfolded makes it easier to sort out what has truly stood out. But hang on -- this is not just a rehash. There's some great music that was only just released or that I never got around to praising. It was harder in a year filled with so much great stuff to narrow this list, even down to this list of ten. (Consequently, lots of great singles will make that list in another week.) What's not here, as usual, is the ubiquitous. You surely don't need me to find "Call Me Maybe" for you. Start the countdown.
10. Lotus Plaza, Spooky Action At A Distance - The title might have qualified even if the music weren't so good. From the Deerhunter family, this is Lockett Pundt's latest project. It's got all the jangly guitars I could ever ask for and a soaring feel that can take your breath away. These are simple songs, really, but they are all dressed up for a long night out that might end in a place like "Strangers":
9. Roller Trio, Roller Trio - "Serious" jazz, with honking saxophone? Do we have to, Jack? Well, no, but if you miss the fresh sounds this British trio are making, you may go on thinking that there's been no jazz for you since "Kind of Blue". Roller Trio's debut is a record that will take you new place and let you hear the roar, so that you can clearly hear the quiet beauty that follows. There's a reason these guys were Mercury Prize nominees this year, and you can hear it beautifully on "R-O-R."
8. Poolside, Pacific Standard Time - While it sounds nothing like it, Poolside sits in the place that Aja-era once Steely Dan occupied in my life: a durable, smart pop sound that offers all-day, everyday pleasure. There's a charming cover of Neil Young's Harvest Moon buried here, but this is the sound of modern Los Angeles, bubbling and blipping along on the digital freeway.
7. Beach House, Bloom - Beach House's dream-pop is the sound of being happily high on a summer afternoon (er, at least as I remember it). Think Time of the Season-period Zombies, put on your Earth Shoes and lay around in the hammock. While it feels a little too fragile on first listening, it opens up in warm way like the best Fleetwood Mac, to whom Poolside owes a big debt.
6. Michael Kiwanuka, Home Again - In the months since I first heard him I've become an even bigger believer in his talent. This music feels absolutely authentic, every note heartfelt. He's Bill Withers, Taj Mahal, Van Morrison and Jack Johnson all rolled up in one Ugandan body. Now that's a neat trick.
5. Lampchop, Mr. M - Kurt Wagner was new to me last summer when I saw him on a weird, but magical Lincoln Center bill with the Blind Boys of Alabama, Yo La Tengo and Jim James. As "Lambchop" he has a whole catalogue of music that's as sweetly eccentric as anything Randy Newman recorded, and as steeped in Americana as The Band's best. Like Newman, he's unafraid to give his songs elaborate and stylistically varied settings. His latest is a fine place to start discovering this great American original. "Gone Tomorrow" shows his talents beautifully.
4. Divine Fits, A Thing Called Divine Fits - I'm a big fan of Spoon, the Austin outfit whose music has a dark, hard, staccato feel that's straight from the swamp. There are no ballads on a Spoon record. The buzz on Divine Fit was all about the "supergroup" coupling of Spoon and Wolf Parade. But when you get a rock record that makes you want to move as much as this one does, I say "Shut up and dance."
3. Meshell Ndegeocello, por une ame souveraine - A Dedication to Nina Simone - Not quite a tribute album, this is where the defiantly original bassist connects the dots between Roberta Flack, Nora Jones and the diva to whom the disk is dedicated. A stunning surprise from a woman whose long, slow musical evolution has been astounding to hear.
2. Alabama Shakes, Boys & Girls - I can't get enough of this bone-rattling, southern rock with its big Muscle Shoals bottom. Brittany's Howard's Janis Joplin pipes are the centerpiece, but this is one tight little band that I think will be around for a while. A classic.
1. Frank Ocean, Channel ORANGE - If there had been no other new music released this year, this would have been enough for me. He is unquestionably Marvin's hier, with his sweet falsetto and his convention-bending songwriting and yet at the same time he is sui generis - we have not seen the likes of Frank before. When I first wrote about Channel ORANGE, I downplayed the "coming out" story that drew so much press. But courage is what this music is all about. Celebrate the New Year with this fine talent. Be brave in 2013.
A quick post, a fanatic rave really, because this is one extraordinary film from David Russell -- a funny, touching movie for grown folks about the possibility of redemption. Go for the Oscar worthy (I mean it!) performance of Jennifer Lawrence, who was criminally neglected for "Winter's Bone" and lately smoldered in "The Hunger Games." Go for DeNiro in the most restrained and affecting he's ever been. Go for Chris Tucker's honest-to-God acting. And go for Cooper, in the role that will make us forgive and forget the endless "Hangovers". Tough subject, brilliant script, Russell at the peak of his game. You get the idea - go!
For years at the end of dinner parties Rob B. and I have been talking about having a radio show together, which in my mind has always been called Atlantic Crossings. In this imagined slot on WTSR or WPRB, we'd bullshit and spin tunes that highlight the persistent difference between American and British tastes in popular music. Because frankly even in a global warming world, we think this is important.
Consider this a preview of our show on "Songs About Jane":
Velvet Underground, Sweet Jane: My opening gambit, the only place to start, really.
Nick Drake, HazeyJaneI: Rob's potential counter, from an artist he introduced me to.
Los Lobos, Two Janes - I come back with a true American sound heard first on their brilliant Kiko.
Bob Dylan, Queen Jane Approximately - A possible Rob spin. "Highway 61 Revisited" cast a LONG shadow.
Beck, SoldierJane - Because we're keeping AtlanticCrossing real and fresh.
And there would be more from me: Ben Folds's Jane, Spiritualized's 2012 killer HeyJane, Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance. Your move, Rob.
