Music

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• Music 11/13/06

  Tim Hecker—Harmony in Ultraviolet
  Another year, another great album from Tim Hecker. This sonic architect of somber ambient soundscapes has delivered the goods once again—a moody, dissonant, and beautiful album. The range of sounds used on this album is remarkable for an electronic artist, making this the least boring ambient album you've heard in a while. Rarely does a record that is so minimal demand so much attention from the listener.
  
  Various Artists—Kompakt Total 7
  In the world of techno music, trends can blossom, flourish, and wilt within the span of three months, which means that owning an up-to-date compilation album is completely essential. It also makes the exceptional quality of Kompakt Records' Total series an anomaly—it showcases the Cologne, Germany-based record label's incredible output annually for the past seven years. The music ranges from acid house throwback numbers to cold and sterile techno beats, but each artist is doing something that sets the music apart from much of the mediocre electronic music on the market. A note to our iPod owning readers: Kompakt's brand of minimalist house music may be made with the dancefloor in mind but it translates best to headphones.
  
  Joanna Newsom—Ys
  Try this for a rock 'n' roll pedigree: recorded by Steve Albini, produced by Jim O' Rourke, arranged by Van Dyke Parks, and mixed at Abbey Road Studios in London. If any of that means something to you, and we hope it does, then you should buy this album. Composed of over-the-top harp and symphony songs that shapeshift and build, usually over the course of more than 10 minutes, Newsom's second album is an almost complete left turn from her debut. It's nice, for once, to hear someone taking a big chance with their sophomore effort and succeeding on every level.
  

• Music 10/31/06

  Girl Talk—Night Ripper
  It is fitting that Night Ripper was released on a record label called Illegal Art. Pittsburgh's Girl Talk, also known as Gregg Gillis, has crafted a seamless, irreverent 42-minute mix that crosses all genres (and good taste) and samples hundreds of songs to make an omnivorous ode to popular music. Of course, it's not exactly legal to use other people's songs without permission—even if the album is consummately fun, playful, and danceable. So, we recommend buying it now before the inevitable cease and desist order makes it permanently unavailable.
  
  Benoit Pioulard—Precis
  Thomas Meluch, who performs under the pseudonym Benoit Pioulard, has been quietly building buzz over the past few years with limited-edition cassettes and CD-R's before releasing his debut album on Chicago's Kranky Records. Precis is a lush and beautiful album of low-key songs played on acoustic guitar and surrounded by an array of found sounds and treated noises. Meluch's somber singing voice fits right in, giving the album a personal and introspective touch while it straddles the fence between sound experiment and pop record.
  
  Califone—Roots & Crowns
  Stripped of everything but voice and guitar, this album would sound like a folk record, fitting right in with the tradition of American roots music. A record like this would be great in its own right, but what really makes Califone such a great band is the members' approach to instrumentation and arrangements. While the songs maintain a continuous note of country-tinged folk-blues, the backing goes from heavily percussive to sparse and spooky without missing a beat. There's a reason we put this on our Fall Playlist—this is the soundtrack to Autumn this year.

• Music 10/16/06

  Peter Bjorn and John—Writer's Block
  There's something about well-crafted indie pop that just makes one happy. Hearing a band such as Peter Bjorn and John, a band that has taken cues from pop songsmiths of the 1960s and yet sound very now, it makes you wonder what they put in the water in Scandinavia. So many bands come out of there fully formed with all the right influences, executing their craft perfectly, and making music that is memorable and earnest. We can't stop listening to "Young Folks," which is in the running for single of the year—and is also an air drummer's dream.
  
  Fujiya & Miyagi—Transparent Things
  Drawing inspiration from 1970s Krautrock (if you're not familiar with this minimalist brand of German rock, get familiar with a dash of modern club music, Brighton's Fujiya & Miyagi make music about everyday life and all its sameness. Whispered vocals layered over machine-like rhythms can seem monotonous, and maybe that's even the point, but F&M find a way to keep it interesting whether it's a cold and propulsive number or some dancefloor stomp. You may even find yourself dancing along, enjoying the movement but with a feeling of malaise at the banality of it all.
  
  Bonnie "Prince" Billy—The Letting Go
  It's easy to forget, for those of us who follow singer-songwriter Bonnie "Prince" Billy's career, that he hasn't released an album of new solo material since 2003. Over the course of the past three years the artist formerly known as Will Oldham has chosen unexpected projects—an album-long collaboration with Matt Sweeney, an album of covers of his own songs recorded in a Nashville studio, and a live album. His latest outing, the solo record we've all been waiting for, is yet another departure. Recorded in Iceland, The Letting Go is a great batch of songs with the very tasteful accompaniment of harmonies, guitars, and even strings; sparse by ordinary standards, but it's an infinitely more lush sounding album than any of his previous efforts. Oldham's voice, a fragile instrument with incredible expression, is better than ever, and the album is an unqualified success, on par with his masterpiece I See a Darkness.

• Music 09/17/06

  M. Ward—Post-War
  M. Ward's latest album is another masterful effort that pays tribute to various types of great American music, from rocking acoustic-led bar band tunes to atmospheric folk songs. While Post-War may sound a bit like his last record, this time around he's taking a less lo-fi approach, yielding his best batch of songs ever. This is front porch music at its finest—best heard on a cheap stereo with a beer in hand.
  
  Arthur Russell—Springfield
  Accomplished cellist and left-field disco icon Arthur Russell is not letting his death in 1992 stop him from releasing great albums. On the heels of a series of great reissues, both of Russell's defining 12" singles and his avant-garde cello explorations, DFA has released a masterpiece of a track, "Springfield," a spacey electro dub tune that Russell was still working on before his untimely demise. The song has been constructed from the master tapes according to the artist's original intentions and can be heard here for the first time. Even better are the two remixes from DFA's producers that fill out the album along with unreleased recordings from 1985, as it shows how truly ahead of his time Russell was.
  
  OOIOO—Taiga
  OOIOO, an all-girl band led by Boredoms drummer Yoshimi (the infamous Flaming Lips muse), are back with another album that sounds unlike anything they've done before. Drums are front and center, ranging from loud tribal rhythms to jazzy ambience to a variety of ethnic hand percussion beats. Yoshimi sings, screams, and seduces all the while, with the band conjuring melody from whatever they can get their hands on. The range of the album is incredible yet it somehow all sounds like the same band, happily making beautiful noise just for the fun of it.

• Music 09/17/06

  Junior Boys—So This Is Goodbye
  Canadian electronic wizards Junior Boys strike again with another satisfying collection of moody indie dance-pop. This time around, the vocals sound a bit more confident. And the beats are as satisfying as ever delivered as a brand of synth-pop for the new millennium with a bit of house and hip hop thrown in for good measure. Even though it sounds great on the dancefloor, we think this album is best appreciated all by yourself in the car on the drive home.
  
  TV on the Radio—Return to Cookie Mountain
  Newly signed to the 4AD label, TV on the Radio have finally released an album that delivers on the promise of their brilliant debut, Young Liars EP. Return to Cookie Mountain has almost everything—fuzzy bass lines, hard drumbeats (courtesy of both a drummer and a drum machine), a David Bowie guest appeareance, and beautifully harmonized songs. Put those all together and the sound is different than anything you've ever heard before (honestly). Simply put, this album is a masterpiece and required listening for 2006.
  
  Various Artists—Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal
  After hearing Numero Group's latest collection of incredible sonic obscurities you might consider yourself converted. This time around they've focused on 18 of the funkiest, most soulful gospel tunes we've ever heard (to tell you the truth, we wouldn't have been able to tell you they were gospel songs if we hadn't read the cover of the album). Focusing on privately-pressed religious records from the '60s and '70s that time had forgotten, Good God! shows just how thin the line is between sinner and saint.

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