I’m Shakin’

This new year I didn’t do a best of or a top ten, you may have noticed. I tried to, but I couldn’t come up with a full ten albums I really loved. There were a lot of hit or miss things I was partially fond of, but not very many solid efforts I could hold up as future classics. If I had done the list, though, one thing’s for sure; Jack White’s Blunderbuss would have come out on top. I might be biased. I always give top score to everything Jack White does. But even if last year had been more fruitful and there’d been more contenders, I’d still vote for Blunderbuss as the best. It’s one of the few records I got all excited about initially, and it lived up to expectations, finding a regular place on my playlist. I don’t know what I expected a Jack White solo album to sound like, but this sounds exactly right. It’s everything Jack; rootsy, eccentric, soulful, hard-rocking. On a mighty great album, this is definitely my favorite song. Because I absolutely must love anything with the word ‘noivous’ in it. Only Jack could be in the middle of a rip-roaring blues song and suddenly go all Three Stooges on us. Also, he says he’s Bo Diddley. If you say so, Jack.

I Fink U Freeky

An introduction is needed to Die Antwoord. They’re weird and they’re from South Africa. Their music is a mix of hip-hop and EDM influences – rap rave or rave rap, you call it. Their image is Zef, which I guess is kind of the white South Africans’ version of ghetto fabulous. As Yo-Landi Vi$$er says, “Zef is, you’re poor but you’re fancy. You’re poor but you’re sexy, you’ve got style.” They’ve caught on in America, thanks in part to the kind of people (hipsters) who like things that are weird and foreign just because they’re weird and foreign. And also because they’re awesome and unexpected and original and exist completely outside the  context of  the American hip-hop and/or EDM scene. Besides their music (which is admittedly somewhat hit or miss) they’re known for their memorable videos. In fact, they consider film making an equally important part of their work. Frontman Ninja has said that in the future they may focus entirely on film projects – after five albums, he said, they’d move into movies full time. As you can see, their videos are highly thought out and draw heavily from Zef culture. Most of which of course goes entirely over American audiences’ heads, though I suspect there’s a heavy element of satire involved. They have a fondness for rats and a penchant for wearing animal suits in public. One of their mascots is a kid with progeria. They made a short film with Harmony Korine. Yo-Landi was offered the part of Lisbeth Salander in David Fincher’s GWDT movie, but wasn’t interested, much to the world’s (my) disappointment. I don’t actually understand half of their lyrics, because they both have very heavy and unfamiliar accents. But it’s all about the attitude and image and discovering something completely different.

 

ACL Fest Special

In honor of a long and grueling Austin City Limits weekend, I’m doing a little feature on some of the acts I saw there (and elsewhere). This is partly in benefit to people in my life who have access to my photo galleries but may not know who-all everybody is. So, in order, chronologically…

He’s My Brother She’s My Sister

A new discovery, highly recommended

 

Patrick Watson

Misrepresented in the schedule as ‘Patrick Wilson’, another new discovery. Recommended, for fans of the mellow and emo.

 

Esperanza Spalding

A brilliant musician, well-deserved Grammy winner, and a great beauty.

 

Florence + the Machine

Quite simply, a goddess.

 

Zola Jesus

Her atmospheric style would have been better served playing at night, but she worked it. A beautiful voice and image.

 

Rufus Wainwright

I’ve found Rufus to be too campy in the past, but his new song for his little daughter is absolutely sweet.

 

Andrew Bird

A very good songwriter and musician, but a bit too low-key for the big stage, in my opinion.

 

The Roots

Really expected it to be torture to sit through, because I hate hip-hop, but DAMN! These guys are old school – they have things to say and they are real musicians. Damn good ones.

 

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

As cantankerous as ever. No playing the hits for old Neil. Just blistering, ear-shattering, never-ending brand-new songs, generating more noise than

 

Kimbra

I didn’t have very high expectations for Kimbra, because I only knew her from her collaboration with Gotye, which was kind of a typical slightly annoying pop song (ok, kind of good actually). But, if it makes it any easier, think of her as an EDM Kate Bush.

 

Iggy & the Stooges

Iggy fuckin’ Pop.

 

Die Antwoord

Weird South African hip-hop. Not for everybody, ok. But how can you not love Yo-Landi?

 

Sleigh Bells

I’ve promoted this noise pop duo before. They’re loud and pretty and harsh and modern all at once.

Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy

Will it be any surprise when I say I’m delighted with Jack White’s new solo album? I’ve already mentioned many times that Jack is my modern day hero and can do no wrong. So of course I have nothing but kind words for Blunderbuss. It’s very much Jack’s big divorce record, with a lot of songs about love, but not so much love songs. And not without his usual eccentricity, for which we love him. Just watch him chat with Jools Holland and play Cab Calloway in the clip. Isn’t he so charming and adorable? I personally find it heartwarming that he’s covering a song he heard in Betty Boop cartoon. My kind of guy.

Golden Slumbers

In less than two minutes, perfection. A brief, absolutely beautiful moment from Abbey Road, which though composed of fragments and sketches hangs together with the grace of a symphony. I love how Paul McCartney’s voice swings from its softest to its deepest without making it feel any less like the lullaby he’s promising. That the Beatles could pack such a perfect arc of song into so little time is, obviously, yet another proof of their collective genius, not that anyone yet needs to be convinced of that. Speaking of Paul McCartney activities, if you’ve been cherishing Til There Was You and wishing there was more of it to go ’round, fret no more. Paul has finally gotten that Great American Songbook cover album everyone’s been waiting for. Actually, I don’t know anyone who was waiting for McCartney’s rousing chorus of The Inchworm and other timeless standards. McCartney has released an album of standards, and though it’s lacking the eccentric suavity of Bryan Ferry’s similar pursuits, it’s a bazillion miles above the cash-grubbing travesty that is Rod Stewart’s Great American series. We don’t think of McCartney as a great interpreter – he’s brilliant enough with his own work, and he rarely does covers anyway. On his tastefully titled Kisses On the Bottom he performs Bye Bye Blackbird and It’s Only A Paper Moon gracefully and without a trace of cheesiness or mawkish nostalgia.

Going Home

Anything new from Leonard Cohen is cause for rejoicing. That he’s named his new album Old Ideas is only right. At his age, who can expect him to have new ones? At his age, where can he look except at the past? The new album is self-aware and self-referential. He knows very well what his image is, and he can get away with writing a song about it. He has always presented himself as a ladies’ man, but an old and weary one, even in the beginning. Remember, though he entered music and became famous during the youthquake sixties, he is a generation older than the folk-rock peers who first embraced him. When his voice, lamenting and enshrining some Suzanne, entered the world’s consciousness he was in his thirties, old enough to have amassed enough conquests to feel weary about. He was old all along, and he’s only gotten older. So of course he’s taken an even deeper turn for the rueful. Somehow his last album, Dear Heather, didn’t make any impression on me at all. It just felt bare-bones and cold. This one I want to delve into. It may be the last chance we have to hear new words from the man, snuggle up to his warm voice, soak up his wisdom.