Yes, I know - late! Since I hardly blogged in 2018, I thought I would review some of my top picks of that year.
I did do some reviews that year, so know that some of those would be on this list, but I decided not to include them to avoid being redundant - reviews for A Perfect Circle, Meg Myers, and A Place To Bury Strangers. So without further ado, here is my list for 2018...
1. Ghost "Prequelle" - It might seem funny that the favorite band of the year of a Mormon fundamentalist is by a band that is so overtly Satanic, but I grew up on the black metal of the '80s. I've listened to Venom and Mercyful Fate. I even met King Diamond when I was sixteen. I recognize the satanic schtick when I see it and know not take it seriously. It's all theatrics after all. And that is what founder and principal songwriter/ musician, Tobias Forge has done - a theatrical show with makeup, masks... the whole bit. Tobias himself dons several personas, whether Papa Emeritus or Cardinal Copia, along with a cabal of anonymous musicians called Nameless Ghouls. Even the music is a throwback to '80s metal, complete with all of the predictable guitar licks and hair metal devices, making the music almost anticipated and just a little cheesy. But I love it. I listened to this album over and over... and maybe even made devil's horns with my hands while I listened. Maybe...
2. Myrkur "Mareridt" - Steve Queralt, the legendary bassist of Ride, once said that Myrkur was "true shoegaze music", "dark, but really quite ethereal as well", that she tried to posit herself as death metal, but wasn't really. Danish musician, Amalie Bruun had made quite a name for herself making Scandinavian folk music. Rebranding herself under the name "Myrkur", she set out to create a blend of medieval Nordic music with black metal. After all, nowadays, what is more Scandinavian than black metal? The result of this unholy melange is something otherwordly, chilling, and utterly beautiful. From the first throes of kulning at the beginning, which is Swedish yodeling, to the first piercing screams, this entire album is haunting and moving - very similar to the blackgaze music created by Alcest. My favorite song is "Crown", which my little niece describes as being sung by an evil mermaid. There is also an excellent bonus track called "Death of Days", a duet with gothic superhero, Chelsea Wolfe. Myrkur is releasing a new album next month, and I admit that I am VERY excited.
3. YOB "Our Raw Heart" - I'm a bit of a latecomer when it comes to this doom metal band from Oregon, and "Our Raw Heart". their seminal eighth album is my first experience listening to them. The album title is spot on - a very raw album straight from their heart. It is abrasive and powerful, most of it slow and steadily grinding, very similar to Black Sabbath. From the staccato riffs of "The Screen" to the throaty growls of "Lungs Reach" and the unearthly melodies of "Beauty in Falling Leaves". This album is true metal, primal and unassuming, in-your-face, and uncompromising. And true to its post-metal roots, the songs are long and ponderous, approaching the ten-minute mark, or surpassing it. I can only imagine what a mind-blowing experience it would be to see these guys live. Maybe someday...
4. Beach House "7" - The wonderful thing about Beach House - the moniker for the Baltimore duo of Victoria Legrand and Alec Scally - is that they have helped to bring dream pop and shoegaze to the mainstream. There is scarcely a young connoisseur of indie music who does not know who they are. For me, they are another one of the many bands that pay homage in their sound to my all-time favorite band, Cocteau Twins. I have been listening to these guys for the last five years, although they have been around quite a bit longer than that. Kind of like another favorite band, Phantogram, they take trip-hop drum beats laced with psychedelic synth loops and ribbon them together with breathy vocals. The effect is astonishing. I love the French lyrics in "L'inconnue" and the languid dreaminess of "Dive", but perhaps my favorite track is "Pay No Mind", which has practically made it onto every mix I've done since 2018, including my Burning Man mix of that year.
5. Anna von Hausswolff "Dead Magic" - I really can't believe that Swedish musician, Anna von Hausswolff, is not more well known. She is a true artist. On her fourth album, she absolutely dazzles. This album tells an auditory story, much like a soundtrack and has Dead Can Dance quality to it - dark, humid, ethereal, heavy. From the ululating shrieks of "The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra" to the subdued ambiance of "Ugly and Vengeful". This album is not just an art rock album - Jungian, metaphsyical, swimming with archetypes. And it's long - one of the songs even clocking in at over sixteen minutes. But there is a reason for that - this album should be listened to in one sitting, because all of the sonic concepts take a while to unfold and coalesce and make a wonderful gestalten whole. I read a meme recently that said that Tool songs get better after the ten-minute mark, and that is kind of true here. I had never heard of this artist before this album. You can bet that I will be paying attention now.
6. Peach Pit "Being So Normal" - Sometimes my teenage kids wind up getting into music that I show them, but, more often than not, they wind up showing me a band that I wind up liking. Peach Pit, a pop rock quarter from British Columbia, is such a band. Most of my kids like them. (One of my kids even got a Peach Pit t-shirt for Christmas.) They are quirky, intelligent guitar pop with catchy hooks and infectious rhythms. Just check out their song "Alrighty Aphrodite" for an example. Their kitsch is that they dress in exactly the same outfits for every live show that they play - yes, kind of nerdy in an OK Go kind of way. In fact, in a very real way, they kind of resemble OK Go quite a bit. This is their first album, and they also released a debut EP, "Sweet FA", in 2018. Both are amazing and will have you grooving. The band has released a new single in 2020, so I am hoping that a new album will be forthcoming.
7. Lycia "In Flickers" - I grew up in the small town of Casa Grande, Arizona - just 45 miles from Tempe - in the '80s and part of the '90s. I grew up in the gothic scene and attended all of the gothic clubs that sprouted up in the dark corners of the night in that desert city. I knew the local scene very well, including Gin Blossoms and Meat Puppets. So, it's strange that I never heard of Lycia until a couple of years ago - a dark wave/ goth band from Tempe, Arizona around since 1988 and boasting 11 albums! And they are my type of music. Dark and mystical, spooky, whispered vocals, Skinny Puppy-type beats. I can't believe that I had never heard of them. Like most bands in the ethereal wave genre, they are more about creating atmosphere rather than melodies, so my only complaint is that some of the songs are repetitive - finding a cool vibe and only repeating that. But some of the songs are downright bone chilling. The eerie "A Failure", and "Mist", a relatable song about driving and walking at night. Whispered, of course.
8. Albert Hammond Jr. "Francis Trouble" - This is another artist that my kids turned me onto. In fact, some of my kids went to see Albert Hammond Jr. live in Phoenix last year. He is the son of well-known '70s rock performer, Albert Hammond. He is also known as the guitarist of legendary post-punk band, The Strokes. But really, he is a polished solo artist in his own right with four albums under his belt. I haven't listened to any of the others. But this one is great - this is hook-laden, jubilant guitar rock. There is not a bad song on it; every single song is catchy and likable. I remarked right away that the music reminded me strongly of Johnny Marr's solo work, the former guitarist of The Smiths. I played some of Marr's work for my son, also a guitarist, and he responded, "Yeah, I can see it." Really, this album is so good that it's hard to pick my favorite song, but, if I had to, it would be "Muted Beatings". If you haven't yet, check out this album.
9. Lucero "Among the Ghosts" - My oldest daughter was living and going to his school in Knoxville, Tennessee, along with her husband, and at the end of 2018, my wife and I traveled out to see her graduate. We had a week to kill, so I started looking into local artists in local 'zines. I came across an article about Lucero, a country band from Memphis, so I checked them out and loved them. Really, to just call them just a "country" band does them a disservice. They blend country with punk and delta blues. Twangy guitars with growled vocals. The songs are magnetic and fill you up like the punch of solid Tennessee whiskey. Thinking I had found something new and different, I called up my friend, JR Hendry, frontman of psychedelic outlaw country jam band, Primal Giants, but he had already heard of them. I guess they have been around for twenty years and have, like, eleven albums out. Check them out. This is real Americana.
10. Nothing "Dance on the Blacktop" - Those who follow my blog know that I have covered this band before, from the beginning. They were perhaps one of the first of the new generation of shoegaze music that I started listening to. They are one of many metalcore bands who switched genres to start making fuzzy, swirly music, but those harder elements are still visible. Nothing has always been kind of grungy shoegaze, tipping their hats to Nirvana, as evidenced in the main single, "Zero Day", which is hard-hitting and dreamy at once. Many of their songs are somewhat derivative as well - "Us/ We/ are" also evokes Nirvana, "Hail on Palace Pier" is reminiscent of The Buzzcocks. But none of it in a bad way. My favorite track is "(Hope) Is Just Another Word With a Hole In It." which completes the album and melts into shoegazey gooeyness. In 2019, the next year, the band released "Spirit of the Stairs - B-Sides & Rarities", which contained outtakes from previous releases, including acoustic versions and a cover of "Vapour Trail" by Ride. It is just as fantastic as this album.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
11. Wallows "Spring" - This is one that would have definitely been higher on my list, but it is a EP, not an album. Again, this is one of bands my kids introduced me to, getting me acquainted with a new genre. Bedroom pop is a phenomenon in that young people are using technology at home (in their bedrooms, as it were) to make music and then market it on social media rather than relying on record companies for exposure. They mix low-fi indie with shoegaze, R&B - anything that create their own type of sounds. The results are refreshingly uninhibited ad unrestrained by A&R reps telling bands how to act or how to sound. This includes artists like Mac DeMarco, Boy Pablo, and Wallows. This style is not always to my taste (too happy), but I really like Wallows, because they remind me of The Smiths - at once effervescent and melancholy. I like the sarcasm of "1980s Horror Film" and the driving hooks of "Pictures of Girls". This band had their first album, "Nothing Happens", in 2019, also excellent. Perhaps I will review that soon.
12. Sylvaine "Atoms Aligned, Coming Undone" - I don't know what it is about Scandinavia and excellent musical artists, especially metal artists. But Sylvaine is one of them. She is an all-around artist - she writes, records, engineers, mixes, and plays all of the instruments, and this is her third album. For this one, she solicited the help of Neige, the genius behind French blackgaze outfit, Alcest. And the music of this record really does sound like Alcest - long songs, power chords, haunting melodies,lengthy, almost-classical interludes, periods of hummingbird heartbeat drums, and unearthly growls with Sylvaine's angelic voice. A bit like Myrkur, except more metal driven. This really is blackgaze - a mixture of shoegaze and black metal. There is even a song in French. My wife once remarked about these types of artists, "They're really serious musicians, aren't they?" Yes. Yes, they are.
13. Zola Jesus "Okovi" - Technically, this album was released at the tail end of 2017, so it technically shouldn't even be on this list. That's why it sits a bit lower on my list - not because of lack of love, but because it's displaced. But I wasn't exposed to it until April, 2018 on a visit to Philadelphia. My friend Matt played this for me on the same day he played Chelsea Wolfe, and so, even though they are very different in some ways (and very similar), they are indelibley connected in my mind. Both are wildly original. Both mix a gothic ethos with other genres. In the case of Zola Jesus, she take staccato, hypnotic, almost industrial beats and laces them with orchestral and chorale music making it a bit like This Mortal Coil meets Dead Can Dance meets Ministry. And her voice is both devilish and delightful. I don't know why more people don't rave about her. There are a few. But she really deserves much more attention.
14. Deafheaven "Ordinary Corrupt Human Love" - I really have mixed feelings about this one. Deafheaven, along with Alcest, are pioneers of the blackgaze genre - an unlikely conjoining of hazy shoegaze and aggressive black metal. It's really my type of music and should have scored a little higher on my list. I really love Deafheaven's music. Let me repeat that - I REALLY LOVE Deafheaven's music. It's alluring, captivating, and very post-punk. BUT... I just can't get past the vocals. Now, I'm no stranger to screaming. I grew up on metal. I grew up on black metal, even. But this sounds like two feral cats fighting in a dark alley. It sounds like Smashing Pumpkins set to the sound of a chainsaw cutting through a steel sheet. Yes, I know, Neige in Alcest screams, but he intersperses it with real singing, and, when he screams, it is with raw, existential pain. This guy just screams and screams. So, whereas I really like the music, I am listening to it in spite of the vocals. I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting old.
I realized that I let most of the year go by without doing any music reviews! I realize that I will never be able to catch up; there was so much great music in 2019! So instead, I thought I would do a "mini-review" of my top 10 favorite albums of 2019! Tell me yours in the comments!
1. Alcest "Spiritual Instinct" - By far, my favorite album of the year, as well as my most anticipated. I was lucky enough to have someone suggest this French band to me about four years ago, and I have been hooked ever since. They are right up my proverbial alley. This band swirls together aspects of black metal with shoegaze to form a new genre (that they created) called "blackgaze". Eerie, melodic, ethereal - there is nothing like this type of music on the planet. (I will blog in more detail about it later.) Some of their six albums - like 2014's "Shelter" - veer more onto the shoegaze side of things. Principal vocalist/ guitarist/ songwriter Neige has said that he always has to resist the urge to create a Slowdive record. Other albums, like this one, lean heavily on the metal side. The riffs are heavier, the screams are more raw. But it still retains a healthy measure of dreaminess. There are only six songs, but, true to post-rock form, none of them less than fiver minutes. "Les Jardins de Minuit" has a savory mix of powerful shrieks and medeival-style chants. The results send chills down my spine. My favorite track is the haunting "Le Miroir". Not too long ago, I was sitting in my car, listening to music in the parking lot of a grocery store while my wife shopped. A man came up to my window and asked if it was Depeche Mode. And that's the kind of music this is - heavy metal being mistaken for darkwave...
2. DIIV "Deceiver" - For those who follow my blog, they know that I have reviewed this band before, and that they are one of my absolute favorites. This record ties with Alcest for my favorite of 2019. Those who know the band know that frontman, Zachary Cole Smith, has struggled with heroin addiction, and it showed in their soporific, hazy brand of shoegaze. A few things have changed on their new album. 1. The band moved from New York to Los Angeles. 2. Cole went clean. 3. The band all contributes to the music instead of it just being Cole's confessional project. And it shows. It shows in the interviews where Cole takes a backseat to the other band members. And it shows in the music. The lyrics are still Cole's. His dark lyrics explore addiction and rehabilitation. But the music is clear and purposeful. It seemed unlikely that they would stop their sophomore effort "Is the Is Are". It seemed unlikely that there would be another album. But there is. And guess what? It does not suck.
3. Whirr "Feels Like You" - This album was a great $5 investment, and I'll explain why. For most of the past decade, Whirr has been at the forefront of the shoegaze revival. Nick Bassett has played in other shoegaze bands like Nothing (a band I've covered for five years) and Deafheaven. They put out two very good releases that were generally loved by fans, and then they fell victims to cancel culture. Being young and dumb, they made comments on Twitter about a rival band that could be considered transphobic, and they lost their record contract. Now, I am not justifying their behavior, but it is unfortunate that we live in such an unforgiving society. Even after offering apologies, the band seemed over. But they have persisted and released a new album on Bandcamp for $5. This album is very typical shoegaze - swirly guitars and muted vocals. But it is very refreshing, especially on songs like "Younger Than You" and "Rose Cold". Hopefully, though, they will make an effort to stay off of Twitter...
4. Sturgil Simpson "SOUND & FURY" - What do you do when you are a Grammy-winning country artist who has already made three country albums that boldly stretch the limit of the genre? You make a decidedly-not-country album. I was really surprised when I first listened to this album. Sure, there's a little country Americana in there, but this album takes genres and warps and twists them into something purely original - Southern rock, synthpop new wave, boogie, and funk, all melted and fused together in something that resembles ZZ Top meets The Cars. This is a really psychedelic record. Apparently, Simpson wanted a visual accompaniment to the album, and there is a Japanese anime version of the album on Netflix, but I haven't watched it yet. I can't wait to see what Simpson does next. Check out "Sing Along", "Make Art Not Friends", and "All Said And Done" for good samples, but, really, this is a concept album and should be listened completely in one season.
5. LSD "Labrinth, Sia, & Diplo Present... LSD" -
LSD is an acronym for the collaborative project with British singer Labrinth, Australian singer Sia, and American deejay and producer, Diplo. The result is an exquisite pop gem of an album, a veritable earworm. This record helped remind me that - along with punk and post-punk - my past is saturated with EDM, and I still love it. These songs are vibrant and colorful, laden with funky beats and the serene, angelic voices of Labrinth and Sia. Really - what's not to like? Some of the songs, like the elegant "Thunderclouds" have an almost 1950s vibe to them. Other delightful songs are "Genius", "Mountains", "Audio", and "No New Friend". I seriously hope that this album is not the end of their creative endeavor and that we see another release from them in the bear future.
6. Ride "This Is Not A Safe Place" - The 2010s saw a rebirth of the shoegaze movement, many new bands switching genres to start reviving the movement. This opened up the doors for many of the shoegaze bands from the '90s to have comebacks, including the Holy Trinity of Shoegaze, being My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Ride. In 2014, much to the pleasure of fans, Ride came together again, not just for touring, but to release a pair of albums. Their sixth album sees them back on form. It's not perfect. I don't like all of the songs. But the ones I do make up for the mediocrity of the others. Both "End Game" and "Shadows Behind the Sun" are strongly reminiscent of The Church. "Clouds of Saint Marie" is a sweet but meaningful pop song. The primary single, "Future Love", redeems the entire album by combining pop sensibility with the dreamlike layers of sound that shoegaze is known for. Ride have shown that they are just as relevant now as they ever were.
7. Drab Majesty "Modern Mirror" - Here is a band that I didn't discover until last year, thanks to my good friend, Linda. Andrew Clinco is the drummer for post-rock band, Marriages (featuring the wonderful Emma Ruth Rundle). He started recording solo music, but he said that it didn't sound at all like him - it sounded like it was music by someone else. So, he created an alter ego as the frontperson of his new band, Drab Majesty - the androgynous Deb Demure. The result is this third album of bone-chilling, danceable darkwave, a total throwback to the gothic music of the '80s. I'm not going to lie - I listen to this band - like on songs like "The Other Side" and "Noise of the Void" - and I hear Clan of Xymox, totally. But that's not necessarily a band thing. In fact, I quite like it. This entire album immediately pulls you into its groove like an indelible homecoming. I can almost see the goth clubs that I used to inhabit as a young man in the '80s. Thank you, Linda!
8. Billie Eilish "When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" - This one may come as a surprise to some people. Yes, I know that "bad guy" is overplayed on the radio. I know that she is so oversaturated in the media that many people have grown to dislike her and she is regarded as "mainstream". But there is a reason that a 17-year-old has achieved this kind of success. (She is exactly the same age as my daughter to the day.) This is a really good album. I have never been averse to pop music. But I love pop music that is subversive even more. And that fits this album. It is surprisingly simple - hard hitting drum beats bumping beneath Billie's airy vocals, singing about surprisingly sinister topics. "bury a friend" is so dark. "i love you" has such a good use of dream pop wall of sound. Hey, if this album is good enough for Dave Grohl, it's good enough for me.
9. Tool "Fear Incoculum" - Like millions of other people, I was one of those who waited almost fourteen years for this album. Truthfully, I was hoping that it would score a little higher on the list than this, but it is what it is. It's still a good album, filled with ten-minute opuses, laden with heavy guitar riffs, off-kilter rhythms, languorous, psychedelic ponderances, Maynard's perplexing lyrics sung is his crystal-clear voice, and trippy interludes. Some people have disliked it, complaining that it is not heavy enough, but too atmospheric. But hey, "atmospheric" is my bag. A typical Tool album. Although not quite as good as "AEnima" or "Lateralus". but about as good as "10,000 Days". The whole album is better, as with all Tool albums, better when listened in one sitting, but my favorites are "Descending" and "Culling Voices".
10. Chelsea Wolfe "Birth of Violence" - In April, 2018, I made a trip to Philadelphia to visit an old friend, a music guru of sorts, and one of the many artists he introduced me to was Chelsea Wolfe. I came back from Philadelphia with the album "Abyss". Over the next couple of years, I was able to explore her back catalog which consisted of four other albums. It's hard to describe her music. She uses a plethora of influences and morphs them into her own creature. Each album is vastly different than the next. Metal, doom, drone, goth, folk - Wolfe is all of these and none of these. On this, her sixth album, she decided to return to her folk roots and go acoustic, and the live shows were also stripped down to their bare elements. But even for an acoustic record, this album is still dark and brooding, and she adds so many complex layers of orchestra, keyboards, and ambient noises that give this album the feel of a nightmare that you can't wake up from. But you don't really want to. Black lace blowing in a cold breeze.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
11. Ladytron "Ladytron" - Like other bands like Curve and M83, Ladytron mixes elements of shoegaze with what is essentially electropop. The result is something that is at once diaphanous and danceable. But I have to say - there can be no denying that this band takes a page (or two) from ABBA - not necessarily a bad thing, the springy harmonies and catchy beats. My favorite songs are "Far From Home", which melts in the end into a blaring cacaphony of pure noise, and the angular "Run". It's no wonder why Brian Eno loves this band so much.
12. Cigarettes After Sex "Cry" - This El Paso band is one that I have listened to before they had an album out yet and only an EP. And I have always loved them. I admit that a lot of their songs sound kind of the same - sweet dream pop melodies set to Greg Gonzalez's feminine voice, everything languid, soft, slow, and reverb-y akin to Cowboy Junkies, Mazzy Star or Julee Cruise. One discussion group I'm in had one individual referred to them as Shoegaze Maroon 5. But sometimes there is comfort found in familiarity and predictability. If all of these songs sound like the same song, then that song is romantic, a little sad, and a touch moving. Just listen to the song "Heaven", and you will see exactly what I'm talking about. I don't know what the whole "Hentai" is about, though. B ut I guess in the end, though, all of these sugary and sensual songs are about sex.
13. Silversun Pickups "Widow's Weeds" - These guys have been one of my top bands for the last ten years, and their fifth album released last year was one of my most anticipated albums. Yet I was a little disappointed in this one. In fact, I have been disappointed in the last two albums. They haven't been bad. This one isn't really bad. But they don't move me in the way that "Carnavas", "Swoon", and "Neck of the Woods" did. Nevertheless, the songs are good, and the band is in good form, like on the principal single, "It Doesn't Matter Why". The other strong points are on "Freakazoid", "Simpatico", and "We Are Chameleons" Regardless of how I feel about the album, it is good to still have these guys around. They really are one of the coolest bands out there.
According to a recentRolling Stone interview, Brendan Perry - one half of the duo known as Dead Can Dance - first conceived the concept for their ninth studio album, "Dionysus", while on a trip to Spain many years ago. Perry was at one of the tamborrada festivals - markedly pagan festivals thinly veiled with Christian trappings, common all over the Mediterranean. They wandered the streets all night, playing drums with hundreds of other drummers, drinking wine, eating olives until they achieved a trance-like state. Perry realized that the whole thing was very Dionysian, similar to the bacchanals honoring the god of wine since time immemorial from ancient Greece and Thrace to Rome, where even the the senators banned the bawdy celebrations upon punishment of death. Those familiar with philosophy will know that Nietzsche tried to encompass a duality of thought by utilizing the dichotomy of two Greek gods - Apollo, who represents the logical and the rational whose adherents worshiped in cities within marble temples, and Dionysus, the god of wine and dance, who appeals to emotion and whose celebrants worshiped in nature in the trees, drunk and giving in to bodily desires.
This dichotomy has always matched Dead Can Dance. Lisa Gerrard has always been the Dionysian - emoting pure feeling with her music, eschewing words to convey her message, relying instead on nonsense syllables. By contrast, Perry was always the Apollonian, his clear baritone always intoning a clear message. This time, however, the band has completed given over to the Dionysian, abandoning spoken language, even giving up traditional song arrangements in favor of a stream-of-consciousness format that consists of two large Acts complete with movements, more like a classical piece meant to be listened to in one sitting.
Dead Can Dance then
Dead Can Dance has always been pagan. From their song titles ("Ariadne") to their lyrics ("The Earth is our Mother, She taught us to embrace the light; now the Lord is Master; She suffers in eternal night."). But also in their sound. To the band, music is a religious experience, a sort of sacrament, able to transport us from the mundane and see visions of other places on the periphery of our psyche. To accomplish this, they have utilized a variety of musical influences and instruments - in the beginning with post-punk and gothic rock, and then using full-fledged orchestras to explore medieval and pre-Renaissance music and finally going full-on tribal with influences ranging from the Middle East to India to Africa to using Native American and Vodun prayers.
Dionysus
"Dionysus" is the best Dead Can Dance release in years, surpassing even the excellent "Anastasis" in terms of innovation and creativity. The music transports you into the myth of Dionysus by resurrecting ancient instruments from the Mediterranean like the mizmar, harp, dulcimer, bagpipes, and violin, plus a variety of drums, creating not so much melodies but musical landscapes. You will see the jagged mountainsides of ancient Greece and the Aegean Sea. This illusion is further strengthened by the use of sound effects - waves crashing on rocks, birds singing, and goats being herded. Perry arranges both his and Gerrard's vocals into complex choral arrangements ranging from trance-inducing chants to reverberating Middle Eastern ululations to achingly sweet harmonies resembling the traditional arrangements performed by the Bulgarian State Women's Choir, bringing to mind the maenads, Dionysus's crazed female followers. The ebbing flow of the music, with its shifting tempos, tries to evoke the ecstatic state sought by those of ancient days who sought the Dionysian Mysteries. The names of the movements suggest at the mythology - "The Liberator", as Dionysus was supposed to free people from their inhibitions, "Dance of the Bacchantes", as Bacchus was the Roman incarnation of Dionysus, "The Mountain" and "The Forest", as this was nature worship, "The Invocation" as a prayer, and "Psychopomp" as an entity who guides one into the afterlife. The result is an unusual collection of music, unusual even for Dead Can Dance whose brand of music has always been difficult to describe anyway. As indescribable as it may be, the album is also unforgettable, and a kind of vindication for those of us who long for them to reunite during their long hiatus.
A couple of side notes - this is Dead Can Dance's second album away from their parent label - the prestigious 4AD label.
Second, I have included the video for "The Mountain" in a link below, directed by Lukasz Pytlik. The video is as cinematic as the music, and the director has said that it was almost as if he had no control and the images arranged themselves. I wish they had made a movie to accompany the whole album.
Some critics have called A Place To Bury Strangers the "loudest band of New York City", and I believe it. I have heard as much from the two people I have personally spoken to who have seen them live. Both have commented on how loud it was, and that earplugs were essential. I have never seen them live. I had a chance to see them live in Phoenix this summer, but I declined the opportunity. The basement venue had no seating, and that is tough for a disabled gentleman such as myself. But I really wanted to go.
From what I hear, their live shows are an assault on the senses - long sessions of ear-bursting walls of sounds and broken instruments. Not just sonically, but visually. Their sets include little lighting beyond strobes, color patterns, and smoke machines (seizure trigger). I hear that, by the end of the show, you feel like you are going just a little insane.
Case in point - every year at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, the wholesome, vivacious, bubbly TV personality and chef, Rachel Ray, whose husband is a musician, hosts a free party where she serves her fare and invites musicians to play. I don't know who the marketing genius who scheduled A Place To Bury Strangers to play the Rachel Ray Party in 2011, but it was a beautiful mistake of epic proportions. You can watch it unfold on YouTube. The geriatric, middle class people sitting at the picnic tables to eat Rachel Ray's burgers, looking on in horror as the band, looking like they slept in some dirty alley, scratches out feedback on their instruments when, suddenly, frontman Oliver Ackermann steps off of the stage towards the audience and stand their like a god, guitar hanging from his shoulder, sneering at everyone. Then he grabs his amp while the music drones on and drags it offstage, stretching it as far as the chord will allow to get it closer to the uncomfortable audience, drenching them in more noise. Then bassist Dion Lunaden hurls his bass at the audience, never in any danger of hitting them, but dissolving the barrier even further between performer and audience. Just as quickly he takes up another bass and resumes playing, and Ackermann in turn also hurls his guitar contemptuously at the audience. It is hilarious.
Then, at the 2018 SXSW performance at Blackheart, the band sets up their equipment - not on the stage, but in the middle of the audience, much to the bewilderment of the audience. You can watch it here. This is just an example of how iconoclastic this band is, how they want to challenge the norms of rock performance and even the music itself.
As early as 2012, my friend Tim, one of my music gurus, tried to turn me onto this band. I only remember, because of Facebook reminded me that Tim had posted a link to m y page that went unnoticed. It wasn't until 2016 that I finally latched on. I should have listened to Tim. APTBS has since become a staple in my musical diet. But what do they sound like? A definitive fixture in New York's post-punk revival, they are a fuzzy mixture of shoegaze and noise rock. In the same song, they can be at once ethereal and yet assault your ear drums. Tim told me in 2012 that they were like "an amped up Jesus & Mary Chain". I would throw a liberal helping of Sonic Youth in there, along with a smattering of My Bloody Valentine. And yet their sound is their own - caustic, impressionistic, grating, an explosive heap of metalic pieces lashed together loosely with baling wire. Here is a brief overview of their releases.
"A Place To Bury Strangers" (2007) - Though released towards the end of the decade, APTBS has been around the better part of ten years. Their first album was mostly a collection of songs that had reverberated through the NYC in clubs and on various independently-released EPs. But it brought the sound of the band into the public spotlight, selling only a couple of thousand copies on the first couple of printings, but eventually winding up number 38 on Pitchfork's "The 50 Best Shoegaze Albums of All Time". There are some strong moments on here - "Missing You" with its gashing riffs and dreamy hook, "Don't Think Lover"'s harshness melting into sweetness. "To Fix the Gash In Your Head" is perhaps one of my favorite with its electronic hummingbird-heart beats paired with a wall of sound. The dirge-like "The Falling Sun". "Breathe" is a dead ringer for Jesus & Mary Chain. The dark and danceable "I Know I'll See You". "She Dies" is another favorite, exemplifying the strength of the band, going from somber and crestfallen swelling to a painful roar.
"Exploding Head" (2009) - Their sophomore release is perhaps one of their albums listen to the most, maybe because it is so catchy. The bendy, swirly guitars on "It Is Nothing" gives away to insistent distortion. "In Your Heart" is the primary single and shows how the band can throw together random noises that ultimately coalesce together to make an impressionistic portrait of a pleasant song. "Dead Beat" always reminded me of a foray into psychobilly worthy of The Cramps. "Keep Slipping Away" is the second single and perhaps the most radio-friendly song they've produced, but that doesn't keep it from being a great song. "Ego Death" continues the fixation with Jesus & Mary Chain, but only if they existed in the gravitational pull on the surface of Jupiter, much heavier, much darker. "Smile When You Smile" is a great song, one of their tunes with a Sonic Youth vibe, like one of Lee Renaldo's compositions. "Everything Always Goes Wrong" has a Joy Division vibe, with Ackermann doing his best deep-throated Ian Curtis, and Lunaden's bass heavy and thrumming in a complimentary imitation of Peter Hook. The title song, "Exploding Head", is one of my favorite - a gothed-up surf punk melody worthy of 45 Grave. "I Lived My Life To Stand In the Shadow of Your Heart" finishes out the album with a bang. How can a song be shoegaze and hardcore at the same time? I don't know, but APTBS accomplishes just this. I have seen the live versions of this song where the ending collapses into a jumble of compressed and improvised chaos.
"Onwards To The Wall" (2012) - This 5-song EP by the band is one of my favorite releases by any band of all time. "I Lost You" starts out the set with the band's dominant basslines, the guitair only there to scratch out atmosphere. Perhaps my most favorite songs by APTBS is "So Far Away". It's hard to say why this song stands out. It is wistful, almost nostalgic, with the guitars shadowing the vocals, the whole song set on dreamy reverb. "Onwards To The Wall" is another song with a Sonic Youth feel, but this time Kim Gordon, perhaps because of the unknown female accompanist on the song, or maybe like Sky Ferreira on "Blue Boredom" with DIIV. The music fades out and fades back up on "Nothing Will Surprise Me" with it's frenetic pace. A great release.
"Worship" (2012) - The band's third album starts by laying the foundation of pounding drums and thrashing crashes of guitar noise on "Alone" and immediately contrasts by going nearly muted and sensual on "You Are The One", one of my favorite tracks. But then they crank up the fuzz to eleven on "Mind Control", a song that works on so many levels because of its stroboscopic effects. "Worship" goes dense and murky again, paying homage again to J&MC. I am usually not a lyrics guy, especially when the words are muttered below the threshold of sound as Ackermann does, but the lyrics to "Fear" make me appreciate the song, clear for once and almost confessional. "Dissolved" is divided into two halves - the first smudgy, melty, slow and shoegazey like a plunge into Slowdive, and the second half is jerky and perky like something kraut rock, or like Beach Fossils or DIIV. The pounding beats of "Why I Can't Cry Anymore" are industrial and artificial. "Revenge" is like Deep Purple swallowed shards of glass. "And I'm Up" has hints of the Buzzcocks or the Feelies. The album plunges through the finish line with the aggressive "Leaving Tomorrow". Or in other words, this is a great, great album from start to finish.
"Transfixation" (2015) - This album is my least favorite of all of APTBS's albums. It's not terrible; it's still good, but it doesn't grab me like the others. It is much less shoegaze, and much more abstract, more Dada. Though the same grinding darkness is present, it has more of an jazz feel to it, more improvised. But in a way it works. This is art for the sake of art, as in the song "Deeper", which is like a dull knife scraping the bottom of a steel drum, droning on at a sludge-like pace. Definitely a WTF moment, but there is no arguing that this is art. "Straight"has some sharp bass riffs, but "Love High" is confused and disarrayed. But that is their intent - to keep you off-kilter. "Now It's Over" is one of my favorite tracks on the record, but only because it is so simple - bass and vocals. But don't worry - there is plenty of pandemonium on the rest of the album to make up for it, as demonstrated in the final track - "I Will Die" - where vocals, music, and samples are kneaded and pounded into one continuous pulp of lovely noise.
"Pinned" (2018) - On their fifth, and most recent, album, just released this summer, the band is back in form. They have fleshed out their sound. A lot of this is due to adding Lia Simon Braswell as a permanent drummer after a rotating lineup of drummers. Not only does she bring her feverish percussive abilities to the proverbial table, but her sharing of vocal duties adds a dimension to the band's sound that wasn't there before. "Never Coming Back", the principle single, shows that the band is as raw as ever - two notes on a bass backed by a kick drum, only the dual vocals bringing the song to a maddening pitch - a pop masterpiece. "Execution" reminds us of their penchant for dissonance. "There's Only One Of Us" is the second single, set to a skipping beat and a guitar effect that sounds like a bagpipe. Braswell and Ackermann seem to emote John Doe and Exene Cervenka. "Situations Change" is one of my favorites, the bass tamed and the guitars soaring to the front. It could be a Bauhaus song, Ackermann even sounding a bit like Peter Murphy. "To Tough Kill" unlaces into mayhem again with its two-step beat indemnified by Braswell's spooky vocals. "Frustrated Operator", another favorite, accentuates its post-punk flavor, sounding a bit like Killing Joke. There are a few songs like "I Know I've Done Bad Things" play up the electronica element. But the band is about taking whatever there is and creating sonic landscapes with it. "Keep Moving On" is so catchy that it makes it onto all of my playlists as of late.
I'm not going to just sit here and tell you how great this band blah blah blah. But I will say that they are one of my favorite acts of this decade. And I will make a prediction. In twenty years, no one will be talking about how much of an influence Cardi B or Migos were on them. They will be talking about how much of an influence bands like A Place To Bury Strangers were Mark my words...
When I see young new artists emerge, I am always curious to see what they will do next. If you have followed my blog over the years, then you will know that I have raved about Meg Myers from the beginning, for the better part of half a decade. I reviewed her first EPs and her first album. These were all phenomenal releases. The thing that set her apart from other young pop singer/ songwriters was the sheer raw passion she threw into her music, drawing comparisons to Alanis Morissette and Sinead O'Connor. I was curious to see how she would follow up her previous efforts. Would she maintain her artistic integrity? Or would she veer off into glitzy commercialism?
With her sophomore album, "Take Me To The Disco", released this summer, it turns out that we didn't have to worry. This album is not only just as good as her earlier music, it's better.
The best anectdote to illustrate the aura of this album is to realize that, in the interim between releases, Myers left her major label, Atlantic Records, for an indie label. Why? Because Atlantic was putting undo pressure on her to produce radio-friendly "hits". This pressure froze her creatively to the point that she was no longer able to write songs. So, she left the label, in what I would call a smart move, and was able to write music on her own terms. The first single was "Numb", and on it she sings:
"I hate the feeling of this weight upon my shoulders
Pushing the pressure down on me
If you force it, it won't come
I guess I'm feeling numb"
This song is a direct response to Atlantic's efforts to extract creativity from her, much in the same vein as Sara Bareilles's "Love Song". ("I'm not going to write you a love song 'cause you asked for it.")
Some critics have said that this new album is less Alanis Morissette and more Kate Bush, and I would agree with that assessment. This album is darker, grittier, and more atmospheric than her previous arrangements. And not just in terms of mood and ambiance, but musically. There are dreamy layers and orchestral interludes and piano. It's not that this album is no less angry, but more otherwordly, more meditative and reflective. Myers's secret weapon has always been her vocal abilities. Especially if you have seen live footage of her concerts, you will know that Myers throws her whole self into the deliverance of her vocals. It's not just singing; it's performance. Her whole body goes into expressing the lyrics, and it is totally unfeigned. You can see that she feels these songs with every delivery. And it shows on the album.
The album starts out with the title track, "Take Me To the Disco", with a piano intro reminiscent of Gary Jules's interpretation of "Mad World", but then ascends gently to a symphonic arrangement. The third track is one of my favorites - "Tourniquet". Myers emotes stark lyrics with clarity set to music that is at once somber and glistening. "Tear Me to Pieces" starts out as a guitar ballad and explodes into a caustic refutal of jilted love. Another favorite, "Jealous Sea", with its play on nautical terms, is a perfect example of Myer's sound. "The Death of Me" is a duet with a mysterious male singer. "I'm Not Sorry" seems to be a rebuttal to her 2015 single, "Sorry". And "Little Black Death" is one of my favorites with its Nine Inch Nails' inspired lashing electronic beat.
Really, the whole album is good, and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to familiarize themselves with her work. Meg Myers has proven that she is an artist who is willing to stretch her abilities to define herself as a songwriter and a musician. A case in point is how she taught herself to play the bass for recent shows. She is willing to stretch herself beyond her limits. If only half of the pop artists out there cared as much about their craft.
Below are a couple of music videos, including "Jealous Sea", which was just released.
