Get Loose Wit It

Track: Lanterns on the Lake - The Buffalo Days

Though technically released in 2013, the newest record from UK indie rock/dream pop band Lanterns on the Lake deserves some attention. Vocals and instrumentals seem to weave together to craft airy soundscapes. Songs take their time to develop allowing for a more rewarding listen. String arrangements beautifully compliment a strong female voice and soaring guitar riffs  From start to finish, Until the Colours Run is an enjoyable listen; it won't be the most daring record you listen to from 2014, but it may vie for the prettiest. For fans of Stars, I Break Horses, S. Carey.

Look, I am a profound advocate for listening to an entire album if you care at all about an artist and his or her art. However, I recognize that some people don't share this view and I also recognize that some artists aren't too proficient past a hit single. Therefore, I'd like to offer my favorite tracks of the past year. I have delved into many of my favorite artists due to a song I loved and I hope one or two of these tracks serve the same purpose for every one of you.

These New Puritans - V (Island Song)

Deafheaven - The Pecan Tree 

Waxahatchee - Lively

Pity Sex - Drown Me Out

Autre Ne Veut - Counting 

Parquet Courts Parquet Courts - Yr No Stoner 

Mount Moriah - Swannanoa

The Knife - Without You My Life Would Be Boring

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSIzOTWcSlM&list=PLCtV7p1g8oa1l3BzWHmBz6IGw6Ievr3bp

The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die - Fightboat

Crash of Rhinos - Opener

Balance and Composure - Reflection

Justin Timberlake - Mirrors 

Vampire Weekend - Ya Hey

Vampire Weekend - Obvious Bicycle

Arcade Fire - Afterlife

Have Mercy - The Ancient West

Haim - Falling

CHVRCHES - By the Throat

MGMT - Mystery Disease

Low - So Blue

Los Campesinos! - As Lucerne / The Low

Joanna Gruesome - Lemonade Grrl

Julia Brown - to be close to you

Local Natives - Heavy Feet

Toro y Moi - Say That

Death Grips - Two Heavens

Arrows in Her - And I Watched a Show About Space

Rhye - Open 

A$AP Rocky - Goldie

Kanye West - Guilt Trip

Sigur Ros - Stormur

Agrminoia - While Life Lies

Any of you who have followed this blog know that I, like many others, took my end of the year list last year fairly seriously. I separated what I liked most with what I thought was best, which I ruled to be the most "fair" thing to do. In retrospect, there is no possible chance that I can hear everything I want to in one calendar year with my workload at veterinary school and conflicting interests. On top of that, my taste is going to differ heavily from many other music critics (do I really think The History of Apple Pie put out a better record this year than the Knife? No, but I like it more.) Therefore, I'll give you my favorite albums of this year and some other tidbits of what I got into and enjoyed, as well as what I was disappointed by.

Favorites Albums of 2013:

1. Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt

2. Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold

3. Pity Sex - Feast of Love

4. These New Puritans - Field of Reeds

5. Deafheaven - Sunbather

6. The History of Apple Pie - Out of View

7. Low - The Invisible Way

8. Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle - Perils from the Sea

9. The Appleseed Cast - Illumination Ritual

10. Agrimonia - Rites of Separation

11. Sigur Ros - Kveikur

12. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

13. Julia Brown - to be close to you

14. Brave Bird - Maybe You, No One Else Worth it

15. Whirr - Around

16. Arcade Fire - Reflektor

17. Touche Amore - Is Survived By 

18. Kanye West - Yeezus

19. Baths - Obsidian

20. Drake - Nothing Was the Same

I also loved records by Mount Moriah, Melt-Banana, JT, The Knife, Joanna Gruesome, Self Defense Family, CHVRCHES, Haim, Lorde, Daft Punk, Kvelertak, Mark Kozelek & Desertshore, Autre Ne Veut, Thee Oh Sees, No Joy, and countless others. I was disappointed with records from The Dear Hunter and Jay-Z. I never got the hype behind Mikal Cronin. I thought Jackson Scott successfully combined the shittiest music with the worst possible accompanying last.fm bio. I don't know if he wrote it, but that's beside the point. Countless shitty albums were put out by overhyped pop stars, but it was nice to see a young pop star like Lorde make high quality pop music. Juicy J put out a ridiculous album that's is actually pretty good. I really liked the new Altar of Plagues record. We heard Bon Iver on a Kanye track about fucking, we heard Drake outrap the shit out of Jay-Z on the last track of his album, we saw people claw and dig for any reason to hate on Arcade Fire, we heard the cries of black metal purists at the efforts of Deafheaven and other artists with obvious black metal influence, Miley Cyrus was forced upon us, people still listened to Michael Buble, and most of all, we had the pleasure of beholding the spotlight shine on the newest wave of emo and the misfortune of countless journalists trivializing this incredible development by saying there isn't a revival. 2013 was pretty good, man.

As far as what I listened to that wasn't released this year, I went into a reggae phase, loving Bob Marley's Exodus, Max Romeo, and Augustus Pablo. I dove into (and am still neck deep in) black metal, loving the new post- stuff as well as Mayhem, Celtic Frost, and Master's Hammer. I got heavily into Al Green and worshiped Jimmy Eat World's Clarity.

For fans of: Clams Casino, A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, Kanye's more recent material, Pusha T, Frank Ocean

Funny, isn't it? So much interesting music continues to come from all sorts of places and scenes, and Drake continues to put out some of the best and most exciting music. It is true that part of it is due to his stellar producer Noah "40" Shebib (who was also responsible for the beat behind Fuckin' Problems). While Drake has offered incredible guest spots on his previous releases, the spots on NWTS are few and far between, making this record feel like a two-headed powerhouse of Drizzy and 40 alone. Drake had never been a rapper to me; he's clearly a hip-hop artist who likes to exploit his voice for more than just a catchy sing-songy chorus. There is plenty of soul in this record (From Time, Connect) as well as some great verses (Tuscan Leather, Worst Behavior - where Drake sounds his most pissed off and goes off), to which Drake finds the perfect medium in on Furthest Thing, started with a catchy chorus and ends with a soulful and strong verse. A few tracks are 40 showcases at their core (Started from the Bottom, Own It, the last half of Connect DAMN, the beat on Pound Cake). You still get your guest spots, but from lesser-known names like Sampha, Jhene Aiko and Majid Jordan; in fact, the worst spot might be Jay-Z's on Pound Cake. Add in production from James Blake and Hudson Mohawke and what else are you looking for? If you're still dismissing Drake for being "soft" or "sensitive" (looking at you, Kendrick), stay away from this shit and go back to high school. You're missing out on gold.

If You Like: Elliott Smith, The Album Leaf, Red House Painters, Low, Belle & Sebastian

It took me a bit to come around to the collaborative LP from Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek and The Album Leaf mastermind Jimmy Lavalle, as it does for almost all of my favorite records. Anyone familiar with Kozelek’s work knows about his stream-of-consciousness style of storytelling and unwavering, undisguised vocal technique and how it’s an acquired taste. In order to really appreciate this record, his style has to be your bag. On this LP, you still get the sometimes playful Kozelek talking about every boxing match within the last year and rejecting proposals by saying “fuck no” but it’s all found coupled with an uncanny ability to tell stories of a deceased beloved partner, a once charismatic, now distant and mentally distressed adored family member, or losing a friend to cancer. All of these hardships and Kozelek’s attitude about them are profoundly summed up in the ten minutes of the album’s last track, one of the better lyrical arranged songs I’ve ever heard. Couple that with the ambience of Lavalle similar to that of his more electronic work (think Into the Blue Again) and this is undoubtedly one of my favorite records of this year. Lavalle’s soft arrangements and Kozelek’s poetry don’t pull any punches and won’t hesitate to give you chills and tear up. 

For Fans of: Hop Along, Elliott Smith, Laura Marling, P.S. Eliot, Speedy Ortiz, Torres

I’ll be up front: the latest LP by Philly’s Katie Crutchfield, her second under the moniker Waxahatchee, is exactly what I look for in music. With my love of Elliott Smith and Hop Along on full display, could you expect me to react any differently? This record showcases the two sides of Crutchfield – some songs leaning on somber yet loud distortion and the their player powering into her vocals while the others feature soft strumming and a spiderweb-thin vocal delivery. All of it, however, is believable as can be. The driving guitar and subtly angry marching tone in Dixie Cups and Jars, the delicate juxtaposition between guitar and vocals in Tangled Envisioning, the combination of the two on the album's honest closer You’re Damaged, the simple yet essential drum parts found in the majority of the tracks, the melodies and “oooo oo hoos” in Swan Dive, the honest, desperate wailing behind distorted chords in Misery Over Dispute, the riff, lyricism, and layering in one of my new favorite songs ever Lively: there isn’t a thing I can’t point out about this record that I don’t fall in love with. To see her and her band perform at Pitchfork Festival this year for the small die-hard crowd composed of people just like me in the middle of the afternoon while El-P and Killer Mike were executing their first ever (loud) Run the Jewels performance on another stage and see her try different arrangements in a festival setting after writing songs suited for one person to play in a small room made it that much better.  I guess what I’m saying is I think you should lend this your ear.

For fans of: edIT, Perfume Genius, Gold Panda, James Blake, Bibio, Majical Clouds, Toro Y Moi

Will Wiesenfeld’s compositions of leading piano, supporting strings, and glitch percussion seem shrouded juxtaposed with his layered vocals on his latest effort Obsidian. Couple that with deeply personal, melancholy lyricism – including No Eyes which offers bouncy, playful synths and coaxing “la la las” yet lyrically forcefully portrays sex for the filthy, unfeeling necessity it is – and we’re given a delightfully dark(er) record with uncanny likability. For those who have fantasized of a Perfume Genius/edIT collaborative effort.

by the way, i have really enjoyed the new records from These New Puritans, Sigur Ros, Waxahatchee, and Parquet Courts. a few others have been in rotation but i have to gather my thoughts before i give a list. 

Jam: These New Puritans - V (Island Song)

We had enjoyed some big cities and now looked forward to some nature in the southwest, so we drove to Carlsbad, New Mexico and camped out at a KOA campground for the night, meeting some nice folks from Michigan also camping (one of them being a freight train riding anarchist punk named Drew who apparently squatted with Leftover Crack and described a New Brunswick resident I knew to a T). We found ourselves scaling the Guadalupe Mountains to the Carlsbad Caverns and chose the self tour, hiking downward miles into stalactites and stalagmites and giant beautiful formations in the cold cave. The scorching sun beat down on us as we enjoyed an authentic McDonald’s breakfast and moved on to Phoenix.

Austin, Texas is next on the map. We arrived rather late and checked out the city, walking down 6th Street and enjoying the bustling streets filled with bars and music. We were stopped by an older gentleman (we think his name was Nelson) who showed us around town, explaining how he was a cancer survivor and tour guide and how clean and crime free Austin is (we believed him: it sure looked it). Of course he asked for a tip at the end (swindled again!) but he was nice enough, so no harm, no foul. We viewed the housing district and checked out the beautiful, enormous capitol building, which towered above us. The next day, Ry worked on some school shit in Starbucks and I explored the city. We had early breakfast at Juan in a Million and enjoyed the Don Juan - a mountain of rice, eggs, Chorizo, bacon, and spices upon a few authentic tortillas - for under 5 dollars (it filled both of us) and an enormous glass of horchata. Lunch was perhaps the best burger I ever had - a single with cheddar with a side of half sweet, half regular fries - at Wholly Cow Grass-Fed Burgers. We both left feeling unfulfilled and yearning for an extra day, but an old friend waited in Phoenix and we had a boatload of stops to hit before returning by the June 24th deadline (Ryan has a summer class he must attend), so onward we went.

The first actual "new" stop on the trip was New Orleans, LA. We spent a late evening exploring Bourbon Street (after looking for an undergorund jazz club and winding up in, well, let's just say the wrong area) which was bustling with drunken and drinking men and women of all shapes, sizes, ages and colors and brass instrument-slaying buskers on every corner. Each bar was filled with incredible musicians and each corner with musicians trying to find their way or earn an extra buck. After buying an authentic voodoo doll, enjoying a real po boy (sharing shrimp and catfish with Ryan), laying by the beautiful harbor and getting zesty off a magical concoction of everclear and cranberry Red Bull, I found myself enjoying a wonderful jazz quintet and talking basketball with an older Golden State Warriors fan over a few bottles of beer inside of The Spotted Cat. A beautiful, exciting, unbelievably fun place to visit and a place that would claim my life shortly if I chose to reside there.