HariKari

Okay so I am a couple weeks late getting this list posted for several reasons, but mainly because it’s so difficult to choose which twenty of the fifty-six 2011 albums I purchased belong on the list. 

The top five are the albums I’ve listened to the most during the year, and two of the top five are by groups that don’t get anywhere near the attention they deserve, especially in the United States.

1. Capsula – In the Land of Silver Souls.  This is the album I’ve listened to probably a hundred times, and I never tire of it. Their sound is part seventies Bowie, part Stooges, part Sonic Youth, a pinch of Link Wray, and a whole lot of “it.” Martin Guevara on guitar and vocals, Coni Duchess on bass and vocals, and Ignacio Villarejo on drums take all of their influences an blend them into one of the best sounding sonic stews I’ve ever heard. Top tracks are “Wild Fascination,” “Communication,” and “Hit ‘n’ Miss.”

Now that you’ve watched that video, you’ll probably want to go buy the CD. Good luck. Right here in Seattle where’ve they’ve been in heavy rotation on KEXP and have played two shows in the past six months (The Comet and the KEXP BBQ), you can’t find their music at Sonic Boom, Easy Street Records, Silver Platters, or any other store I’ve wandered into. The album is on the BCore Disc label, which must have very poor distribution in the U.S. Amazon sometimes has it, and you can buy it from the band for $10 if you go to a show. So what I guess I am saying is go to a show, see the band, buy their music, spread the word. (I guess you pod people can download it too.)

2. P.J. Harvey – Let England Shake. When I read that P.J. was working on an album of songs she plays on an autoharp, I thought that’s gonna be pretty weird. What it is, is a masterpiece – an incredibly focused, forceful collection of passionate and sometimes angry songs about war. Here’s one of the twelve films by Seamus Murphy that are available on YouTube and on a DVD now available in the UK that hasn’t yet made it across the pond.

3. Tom Waits – Bad as Me. It’s been a long time since Tom Waits put out an album of all new songs, and it was worth the wait. Tom uses all his voices in this album. He delivers the rockers “Bad as Me” and “Satisfied” in a howling gravelly voice with a nice shout-out to Mick and Keith, and “Back in the Crowd” and “Last Leaf” in deep, slightly raspy melodious voice.

4. The Decemberists – The King is Dead.  I had heard the Decemberists on the radio quite a few times, but I never paid much attention to them until this album came out. This is a pop album that the band says was influenced by Siouxsie and the Banshees, XTC, and R.E.M. (Peter Buck plays guitar on three songs.) Top tracks are “Calamity Song,” “Down by the Water” and “This is Why We Fight.”

Be sure and watch the video for “Calamity Song” too.  It was inspired by the David Foster Walace novel, Infinite Jest.

5. The Duke Spirit – Bruiser.  This album was released in Europe in September and has not yet been released in the U.S. where they don’t get near the attention they deserve. KEXP has recently started playing a couple of tracks, so maybe the band will get a little traction and release their album in the U.S. soon.  Liela Moss has one of the sexiest voices in rock ‘n roll today, and the band backs her up brilliantly. Key tracks are “Don’t Wait,” and “Surrender.”

The Duke Spirit – Surrender from The Duke Spirit on Vimeo.

This is taking too long, so not much commentary and no more videos from here to the end.

6. The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart. The kings of Seattle folk-pop on Sub Pop.

7. The Low Anthem – Smart Flesh. This album will grow on you. With lyrics like, “Then she left me here reeling with that time-release feeling/Like a long wisp of hunger, I swung from the ceiling” how could it not?

8. The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow. I learned about this band from Paul Krugman of all people. He posted videos of the band on his blog when he needed a break from all the political craziness.

9. Viva Voce – The Future Will Destroy You. The album was released on the first day of summer and this guitar-heavy, retro-psychedelic-pop record instantly became the soundtrack to my summer. It’s a great one to listen to while driving through the city on the way  home.

10. Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi. She’s got pipes, she can play guitar, and she’s got impeccable taste. Here’s a list of her influential albums from the November 2011 issue of Uncut Magazine: Aladdin Sane – David Bowie, Death of a Ladies’ Man – Leonard Cohen, Heaven or Las Vegas – Cocteau Twins, Gris-Gris – Dr. John, Grace – Jeff Buckley, The Ecstasy of Gold – Ennio Morricone, Quartet for the End of Time – Olivier Messiaen, Let Love In – Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Wild is the Wind – Nina Simone, and Limehouse Blues – Django Reinhardt. ‘Nuff said.

11. Radiohead – The King of Limbs. John Buckley over on Tulip Frenzy picked this as his number one album of the year, so go read what he has to say about it.

12. Scott H. Biram – Bad Ingredients. If you want some nasty junkyard blues, this album is for you.

13. The Black Keys – El Camino. This album was released in December, and because of publishing or voting deadlines, it didn’t make a lot of lists, but thanks to my tardiness in posting, it made mine.

14. Wilco – The Whole Love. Nels Cline does some extreme guitar shredding on “Art of Almost.”

15. White Denim – D. This Austin band smoothed out the edges of their sound on their latest release. Sometimes that’s not good, but in this case it is.

16. Black Joe Lewis – Scandalous. James Brown is alive and well, he just goes by a different name and his band is awesome.

17. Dum Dum Girls – Only In Dreams. You like girl pop? You’ll love this.

18. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo. Great title. I just recently bought it, and it keeps growing on me.

19. John Doe – Keeper. It’s John’s “happy” record. No, really. Listen to “Little Tiger” and “Lucky Penny.”

20. Wild Flag – Wild Flag. Carrie Brownstein’s new band: “What is the sound of an avalanche taking out a dolphin? What do get when you cross a hamburger with a hot dog? The answer is: WILD FLAG.”

Honorable mentions to: Dave Alvin, The Cave Singers, Danger Mouse and Daniel Luppi, Ry Cooder, Drive By Truckers, Jason Isbell, The Kills, The Pimps of Joytime, The Roots, Sons and Daughters, Tinariwen, Trombone Shorty, and Thurston Moore.

The Comet Tavern doesn’t have a green room, so after you’ve had few pints and have to go pee them out, you must walk through a maze of instruments and gear and past a pinball machine in the cramped area behind the stage to get to the men’s room. I stopped on the way to say hello to Martin Guevara of Capsula and tell him how much I appreciated his band returning to Seattle so soon after their show at the KEXP barbecue in August. And then there I was in the men’s room staring at the graffiti covered walls as I pissed into a trough thinking, this is weird – I am taking a piss just ten feet or so from the members of one of my very favorite bands.

I had not been to The Comet in years – maybe decades. The last time I had gone was a few months after some stupid, angry drunk had awakened from his slumber and smashed a pitcher of beer into the skull of my friend Gorby.

I returned to The Comet with several friends on Friday night to see four bands playing a show that was part of the City Arts Fest. We arrived about mid-way through Rose Windows‘ set. I had never heard them before but immediately took a liking to them. Their sound is kind of throwback to the psychedelic, flower-power sound of San Francisco during the sixties. The lead singer, Rabia Qazi, dressed in a flowing white dress has a beautifully expressive voice that reminded me of Grace Slick. The other five or six members of the band worked together to create some loud, densely layered jams.

Stag came on next. I am friends with the drummer, Rob Dent (thanks for putting me on the guest list Rob!), and I had seen his band a few times. Friday night they put on the best show I had ever seen them play. They were all very happy to be there, and it showed. Steve Mack was sporting his new close-cropped hairdo and put on an animated show while Rob pounded his drums, and Ben, Lincoln, and Pete played guitars. Check out their new video for “Don’t Lead with Your Heart.” Steve was working up a sweat and wanted some “naughty water” to drink on stage, but he obeyed the signs taped to the backs of the speakers that told him not to. (photo here.) It didn’t take him long to get a beer after they ended their set.

Whalebones, another band I was not familiar with, played next. They are a trio led by Justin Deary who sounds (to me anyway) like his roots go way back to Eddie Cochran and a little less way back to Crazy Horse. The band can rock. Go see them.

Capsula took the stage and dove into their high energy set of sonic soup built around Coni Duchess’s wicked fast bass playing and Ignacio Villarejo’s furious drumming. Crank up the reverb and add in Martin Guevara’s searing guitar, dynamic vocals and stage performance, and what you get is awesome to the power of 10. They played “Wild Fascination,” “Into My Skull,” “Let’s Run Away,” and “Commmunication” from In the Land of the Silver Souls, and from Rising Mountains they played “Girl! Whip Up the Sound,” and my favorite song that they sing in Spanish, “Mejor No Hablar De Ciertas Cosas.”

Martin made his way into the crowd holding his guitar by its base so he could scrape the neck on a light suspended from the ceiling. His guitar was so close I could touch it, so I did. I think I may have even plucked a string or two.

The band was feeding off the energy of the crowd and was very happy with the response they were getting. Martin expressed his appreciation by telling the crowd that playing at The Comet was “de puta madre.”

I talked to one of the photographers at the show and told him I would bet putting up a post and wanted to know where I could find his photos. His name is Dave Lichterman and he gave me his card, so I think it’s okay to link to his photos, so here you go:

More Capsula photos here.

As long as I am in this music posting mode., I might as well tell you about another article I recently read in The Atlantic.

First the setup: I bought the October 2011 issue of Mojo Magazine last week, and the CD compilation that came with it is titled Return to The Dark Side of the Moon, a reinvention of the original 1973 album by several groups covering the songs plus a few songs from Wish You Were Here.

I put the disc in my car and listened to it on the way to work and on the way home.  I’d probably listened to the Pink Floyd album at least a hundred times, so I know it note by note, word by word. I was, however, not familiar with any of the artists on the reinvention album, and I ended up liking a few of the covers. I especially liked The Pineapple Thief’s cover of “Money.”  But, I was much more interested in hearing another band performing “The Great Gig in the Sky,” because that track – with the wordless melody sung by Clare Torry –  tripped me out more than anything else on the record.  How could anyone cover that song?  The Last Hurrah!! gave it a go but it was kind of a letdown.  So when I got home I figured what the hell, I’ll just load up my Pink Floyd cd’s, listen to the original recordings, and chill while drinking a beer.

The new issue of The Atlantic had arrived in the mail that day and I came across an article by JamesParker titled, “Everything Old – Our obsession with music nostalgia is strangling pop.” I thought to myself: This is weird. Here I am, listening to an album recorded 38 years ago that sold over 45 million copies reading an article about our obsession with music nostalgia. I was thinking I should change out the cd’s before reading it because I am not one of those people that is stuck in some kind of time warp where the only music I listen to now is music I discovered while in high school and college. (I left the Floyd running.)

So I read through the article:

Has pop culture, uh, stopped? Why do the major musical developments of the past decade include Guitar Hero, reunion tours, hip karaoke, the rise of the tribute band, pop stars made entirely from bits of other pop stars, and Van Morrison re-performing Astral Weeks? Lady Gaga, bless her radical retro soul, is Cher after three weeks in Warhol’s Factory. Cee Lo is Motown with swearing. This month, even as Roger Waters breaks temporarily from his transglobal plod-through of Pink Floyd’s 32-year-old rock opera, The Wall, Roger Daltrey sallies forth with a production of The Who’s 42-year-old rock opera, Tommy. One salutes the unkillability of these gentlemen, one reveres their work, but, honestly.

…

Early in Retromania, Simon Reynolds’s recent compendious and slightly nauseating (in a good way) account of pop-cultural backward-looking, the author visits 315 Bowery—once the site of the punk club CBGB, now a John Varvatos clothing boutique. Reynolds is on the heritage trail: he’s already been to the British Music Experience in London…

…

The floating simultaneity and endless availability of all recorded music, the deadening sophistication of the average listener—these are not spurs to Art. “It’s glaringly obvious,” Reynolds writes (indisputably in my view), “that all the astounding, time-space rearranging developments in the dissemination, storing and accessing of audio data have not spawned a single new form of music.” The key word in there is data. Encoded, flattened, trimmed, compressed, and abused, music in the digital age is turning its back on us. It’s a fact, Jack: MP3s sound horrible. I suspect they are bad for your brain. Dionysus will not be treated as information.

We might of course be old farts, Reynolds and I, with old-fart ears and old-fart memories, freaked out by the world that is blossoming at our old-fart fingertips. It may be that to complain (as he does) of feeling “splayed and stuffed” when you go online is merely to say: Yes, I am middle-aged. But Retromania goes deeper. Burrowing backward in search of retro’s first cause, Reynolds traces the reactionary roots of punk rock—its claim to be rescuing rock and roll from the bloatations of the early ’70s.

He concludes with “the fix is in” as if it’s all been done, so what now?

Well I disagree.  The fix is not in.  There are so many new bands making really great music these days. I left the article thinking that Mr. Parker needs to stop thinking and writing about the past and start paying attention to bands that are making great music now.  He thinks that many new artists borrow from the past, but I say, who doesn’t?  So what?  It’s okay to take something from the past as long as you don’t just copy it, but move it forward.

So James Parker and Simon Reynolds, if you come across this site, may I suggest for your listening pleasure the following bands:

Capsula (my favorite band right now)

The Duke Spirit (my favorite band before I heard Capsula)

Grinderman (featuring my favorite singer and song writer, Nick Cave)

Sons and Daughters

First Communion After Party (a new discovery via Tulip Frenzy)

Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter (recently discovered by James Buckley at Tulip Frenzy)

White Denim

The Pimps of Joytime (another new discovery)

Saul Williams

Wild Flag (familiar faces in a new band)

…just to name a few, and yeah they sometimes borrow from the past, but they are using what they borrow to make new and exciting music.

Listen to their music.  Move forward.

Capsula flew in from Bilbao, Spain to play an hour-long set at the annual KEXP Barbecue on Saturday, August 6, 2011. 

Capsula’s members are: Martin Guevara: guitar/vox/effects, Coni Duchess: bass/vox, and Ignacio Villarejo: drums/percussions. 

Their name is the Spanish word for capsule, and they took their name from David Bowie’s song “Space Oddity.” Their website describes them this way: “They love guitars, fuzz, distortion. They sound like mars, dreaming hawaii, a karate fight, flower crowns, vulcano, caramel, gigant waves, turtles in chile, kitten ears. They want to touch your lives and kiss your bones.”

Here are thumbnails of photos from their performance.  Click on them for higher resolution photos.

Their driver was at the merch booth after the show selling their new cd, In the Land of Silver Souls, for the bargain price of $10.  I haven’t seen it in any of our local record stores, but it is sometimes available from Amazon.   Tulip Frenzy has a very good review of the album here.

If you are in Austin, Texas tonight as I write this and you are lucky enough to find a way into the Red Eyed Fly, then you are watching Capsula live, and I am not.  (I am watching the Washington Huskies play the Georgia Bulldogs in the NCAA Tournament).

I’ve posted about Capsula before, and I picked their 2009 album Rising Mountains as the best album of 2009.  They have a new album out called In the Land of Silver Souls that is available on CD in Europe, but not yet in the U.S.  You pod people can buy it on iTunes though.

It’s halftime now and I have a few minutes, so what I am going to do is watch Capsula live from last year’s SXSW on my Macbook.  Go ahead, join me…

They really are the best punk band in the world today.

If you want to know more about their new album, I highly recommend that you visit Tulip Frenzy and read all about it.  I have added Tulip Frenzy to the blogroll, because after reading a few pages, I can tell that the author and I like a whole lot of the same music, and he is a much better music writer than I am.

Happy Birthday to David Byrne.  He is 58 years old today.  Here’s an old video of him being interviewed by several characters played by himself.

Enough talk.  Here’s some music.

Capsula flew in from Spain last March to do a show in NYC and then several sets at SXSW. Here’s one of the four videos up on YouTube from their performance at the KEXP day stage.

If you liked that, then you’ll like all the other ones too. Watch them all: here, here, and here.

And to close tonight’s set, here’s Paul Westerberg.

Tonight you have to work a little harder. First you have to go to the NPR site and start the recording of a Capsula concert at SXSW, and then you need to click on below to start the photos.

This one’s easier. It’s Moon Duo, and you’ll like it.

And why not a little Ray Wylie Hubbard?

It’s New Year’s Eve and KEXP is just about ready to star their countdown of the best albums of 2009.  I’ll be listening and commenting on that later but, for now, here’s what you need to know.

The Top 10 Albums of 2009

1. Rising Mountains – Capsula:  I first heard Capsula on KEXP on July 3rd and I was immediately hooked.  They are the most exciting band I’ve heard since discovering The Duke Spirit three years ago.  The band is originally from Buenes Aires, Argentina and they relocated to Bilbao, Spain.  They are a guitar driven, hard rocking band that knows how to write songs with catchy lyrics and great hooks.  The album is currently available as an import only.  You can get it at Amazon.  I suggest you go there now and buy it.  They will be coming to the U.S. in March for a show in NYC and then will be in Austin for SXSW.  See them if you can.  More about them here.

2. Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever – Scott H. Biram:  Gorby turned me on to this guy by giving me an earlier album to listen to.  In May, I went to Austin with Gorby and Zippy, and we saw Scott live at The Continental Club.  GREAT one-man show.  I bought the album shortly after that, and I’ve been listening to it constantly.  Junkyard blues just don’t get any better than this.  Scott Biram will be in Seattle at the Tractor Tavern on Friday, February 12th.  See you there.

3. Truelove’s Gutter – Richard Hawley:  I read a review of this album in MOJO magazine, and immediately went out and bought it.  It is by far the most sonically interesting album of 2009.  He uses some really rare instruments:  the glass harmonica (based on the haunting tone you get when rubbing a wet finger around the rim of a wine glass – a.k.a. the hydrocrystalphone invented by Benjamin Franklin), the waterphone, the cristal Baschet, the ondes Martenot(kind of like a theremin), and a musical saw.  The key track on this album is “Remorse Code.”  Can’t stop listening to it. 

4. One Fast Move or I’m Gone, Kerouac’s Big Sur – Jay Farrar & Benjamin Gibbard:  I am a huge fan of Jack Kerouac, so I bought this they day it came out.  The cd is the soundtrack to a movie about Kerouac’s journey back to California to get some down time at Ferlinghetti’s seaside cabin.  The film is excellent.  It features readings of Big Sur by the man himself.  Kerouac’s voice is intoxicating.  I could listen to it for hours.  Oh, and the music by Farrar and Gibbard is stripped down and soulful.  I recommend “California Zephyr” and The “Void.”  They will be performing at The Showbox in Seattle on Sunday, January 24th.

5. Wilco (the album) – Wilco:  The guitar work by Nels Cline on this record is incredible.  The songs are great.  Tweedy sounds great.  What more can you ask for from a Wilco album?

6. I and Love and You – The Avett Brothers:  This is a beautiful sounding album produced by Rick Rubin who fleshed out the trio of banjoists and drummer with piano and sometimes lush orchestration.  The title track and “Tin Man” are my favorites. 

7. Broken – Soulsavers:  This is Mark Lanegan at his best.  A dark brooding album that matches his voice perfectly.  He gets excellent vocal support from Rosa Agostino (a.k.a. Red Ghost), and Richard Hawley makes an appearance too.

8. Welcome Joy – The Cave Singers:  I heard of this band, but never really knew what they were about until I saw them at Bumbershoot.  It’s real rootsy stuff with catchy lyrics and great vocals.  “At the Cut” and “Leap” are my favorites.

9. The Spirit of Apollo – N.A.S.A.:  That stands for North America South America.  It’s a duo that pulled together a whole lot of artists to sing vocals on twenty-some songs.  Who?  David Byrne, Chuck D, Tom Waits, Kool Keith, Kanye West, Mia, Del the Funky Homosapien, and more.  The first song I heard was “Spacious Thoughts” featuring Tom Waits and Kool Keith.  You just have to hear it.  The two with David Byrne, “The People Tree” and “Money” are really great.

10. A Woman A Man Walked By – P.J. Harvey & John Parish:  The album starts out with one of my favorite songs of the year, “Black Hearted Love,” a pop song, and then it veers off in all different directions.  Thanks to “That Irsih Fella on my block, I got to see P.J. and John put on a great show at The Moore Theater this year.  P.J. was in perfect form, and John and the band were tight.  They are PROFESSIONALS!

The Top Teen Albums of 2009

11. Tell ‘em What Your Name Is - Black Joe Lewis and the Honeydrippers:  My Austin pals told me about this band last year.  Black Joe Lewis has a huge fan base in Austin, and I was lucky to see the band at a sold out show there in May.  I love the fun energy in this album.  “Get Yo Shit” and “I’m Broke” are the shit.

12. ¡Let Freedom Ring! – Chuck Prophet
13. Horehound – The Dead Weather
14. Middle Cyclone– Neko Case
15. Together Through Life – Bob Dylan
16. Hombre Lobo – Eels
17. Through the Devil Softly – Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions
18. Secret, Profane, & Sugarcane – Elvis Costello
19. The Eternal– Sonic Youth

and number 20…
Backspacer  – Pearl Jam

This year’s best series of reissues is of course the first four albums by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds out on Mute records:  The First Born is Dead, From Her to Eternity, Kicking Against the Pricks, and Your Funeral, My Trial.  Buy them all and play them loud.

The best live album of the year is Tom Waits’ Glitter and Doom.

I heard Capsula for the first time during the drive to work yesterday morning.  They are from Buenes Aires, Argentina but now reside in Bilbao, Spain.  They have a new album out titled Rising Mountains, but it’s not available in the U.S. as of now.  You pod people can download the album.  I suggest you do and then burn me a cd.  This song is not from the new album, it’s from an album titled Songs and Circuits.

I’ve been listening to R.E.M. quite a bit lately. Here’s one off their latest album, Accelerate.

And it’s summertime, so you should be listening to the Dandys.