In no way is this list an attempt to establish a firm hierarchy of quality for the vast amount of new music released in 2012. That’s an endeavor best executed with the added advantage of time, allowing one to hear more and listen better. No, this is simply a list, in ascending order, of the new vinyl releases that brought me the most pleasure during this calendar year.
10. Mission of Burma, Unsound | These Bostonian art-punk elders completed the fourth entry in a now quite lengthy and most welcome return to relevancy, and it’s quite possibly their best album since ‘04’s OnOffOn.
Interestingly, the punk elements in their sound show no signs of taking a back seat in the scheme of things (or for that matter, getting stale), so Unsound not only provides important lessons in staying power but goes down a raucous and inventive storm from start to finish. And like all their recordings, it’s a real grower. Released in July, Unsound is still growing.
9. Catherine Irwin, Little Heater | On the alt-country front, this extremely fine solo outing from half of the enduring excellence that is Freakwater edges out Laura Gibson’s also quite gorgeous La Grande by a nose. That mainly comes down to Little Heater being the work of a true veteran.
It’s stripped down, full of verve and emotional commitment, and it serves as a reminder that, in direct contrast to that of Little Heater contributor Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, the two members of Freakwater are heard from far too infrequently.
8. Tyvek, On Triple Beams | Contemporary punk stuff doesn’t get much more gnarled-up and casually cerebral than this band, and with this they show no signs of slowing down. Anyone keen on first-album Wire and the fine fruits of Los Angeles, CA’s Happy Squid Records (home of the still stupefyingly great Urinals) should step right up to a spinning copy of this platter and prepare to get gassed. Stuff like this doesn’t happen by accident; in this case it’s the product of the Motor City, one of rock music’s great geographical locations. And like true punks they are appropriately scene-centric.
On Triple Beams’ best track, the stomping and celebratory rocker “Wayne County Roads,” isn’t a tribute to one of punk’s greatest gender-benders, but instead an anthem dedicated to the region they call home. But the whole record is just another concise slab of reckless mayhem.
7. Jessika Kenney and Eyvind Kang, The Face of the Earth | Similar to the Tyvek, if this had appeared earlier in the year it would likely rate higher. Kenney is an amazing vocalist perhaps best known for her work with Pacific Northwest art-metallers Wolves in the Throne Room and Sunn O))). Kang is a master violist who’s collaborated with names as disparate as John Zorn, The Decemberists, Blonde Redhead, Joe McPhee, and Animal Collective. This is the pair’s second joint album, but it’s the first heard in this house and it’s been very difficult to quit playing it since stumbling onto its charms.
And its charms are quite varied; much of it is Middle Eastern in orientation (Kenney is noted for her skills in adapting Persian vocal traditions), but it also drifts into otherworldly folk and even free improvisational territories. Kang’s contribution on viola, setar, and electronics is exquisite throughout, but it’s Kenney that really brings the goodness. She sings many words during The Face of the Earth, but I understood no English, the better to absorb the beauty and power of her voice. It’s a very intense album, but also one that’s quite relaxing.
6. Screaming Females, Ugly | They’re five albums deep in less than seven years, and they just keep getting better. Screaming Females specialize in power-trio indie punk that’s just as comfortable playing a basement show as a gig in a House of Blues.
While drummer Jarrett Dougherty and bassist King Mike make up quite an impressive rhythmic team, the main reason for this band’s success lies in the combined abilities of Marissa Paternoster on vocals and guitar. She wails at the microphone with throaty Riot Grrl-descended assurance and displays a focused proficiency on her chosen machine that burns and smokes like a flaming pile of Hit Parader back issues. If Screaming Females keep on improving, so has the effect of Ugly as this year has progressed. If they top this one I’ll be amazed, but until then this’ll do just fine.
5. Talk Normal, Sunshine | Another group that keeps rising in quality, perhaps because the retro hoopla over their fields of audible influence crested and largely subsided a few years back, providing them with an environment conducive to the creation of great albums and allowing them to stand out from the crowd instead of getting trampled by a stampede of similar but far inferior units.
New York No Wave and UK post-punk are the sources of drummer Andrya Ambro’s and guitarist Sarah Register’s inspiration, but Sunshine is distinguished by not throwing back but instead flashing forward. This record leans to the post-punk a bit more than past efforts, but that’s no cause for worry; every time this record spins the audacity of ripping off Gang of Four gets even lamer.
4. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! | Detractors of this Canadian group have sometimes characterized their music as dreary and serious to a severe fault, but I’ve always been struck by the intensity and focus of their instrumental vision; they’re one of the few non-vocal outfits around with a musical thrust that possesses a graspable point of view.
The records detail a deeply political music that dispenses with the didactic and instead serves up dark and riveting atmospheres, soundtracks if you will, for the ongoing struggle. As such, I’ve never caught a bum trip from their records. To the contrary, they’re often quite uplifting. This new one after a long hiatus is no exception.
3. Lambchop, Mr. M | Kurt Wagner and crew have always been so singular that it’s a little difficult to just drop them into the corral of alt-country. Hailing from the belly of the country music behemoth, they’ve continually presented a road not taken by the unabashedly populist concerns of the Nashville establishment, but the continually shape-shifting group has never really registered as a reaction against the norms of the city they call home. Wagner’s always seemed at peace with the commercial ambitions that make up a large part of country music’s history, and in fact he’s often borrowed from it, the lushness of the Countrypolitan string sound being one big instance that continues to inform Lambchop’s warm and casually unique identity.
It’s an identity that continually evolving; long gone is the country-soul of their masterful late ‘90s records, the last two releases commencing what will hopefully be a long and fruitful late-period. Mr. M finds Wagner in top form, and the band plays with a confidence and emotional investment that’s quite rare. It’s another fabulous record from one of the USA’s finest bands.
2. Neneh Cherry and the Thing, The Cherry Thing | Jazz continues to endure in large part due to the restlessness of its most interesting practitioners, artists that are continually searching for something new, extending the possibilities of the art form through chance-taking and a healthy, non-slavish knowledge of tradition. This collaboration between Scandinavian free jazz heavyweights The Thing and hip-hop informed singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry is a wonderful example of why jazz will never die; it’s just got too many options.
The Cherry Thing has been shorthanded in some places as another example of art music fusing with pop music, but it’s far from that simple. Cherry might be best known for her ‘80s single “Buffalo Stance,” but she was also part of the UK post-punk scene via Rip Rig + Panic, and was the daughter of one of jazz’s greatest trumpeters.
This record mixes a pair of originals, one from Cherry one from The Thing’s sax player Mats Gustafsson, with covers ranging from Suicide, Ornette Coleman, The Stooges, MF Doom, and Neneh’s daddy Don. The result is a true monster, with Cherry singing beautifully, displaying force and absolute assurance, never tentative, while the membership of The Thing goes about their business like titans, the rigorous, righteous blowing of Gustafsson in particular. I’d previously considered this record as being loosely in the tradition of Archie Shepp’s brilliant Blasé featuring the gifted vocalist Jeanne Lee, but after months of play it’s asserted itself as very much its own thing. It’s The Cherry Thing.
1. Sharon Van Etten, Tramp | ‘09’s Because I Was in Love, the LP that essentially served as Van Etten’s debut, is a simply killer late-night folk record, but the qualities that made it so special weren’t exactly well suited for sustainability. Her second album, Epic made some very smart adjustments to her sound; if the debut felt so intensely personal that it was hard to imagine it performed in a space less intimate than someone’s living room, Epic brought her out of the emotional darkness and into the light of working musician-hood, growth that’s indicative from the titles Van Etten chose for the two records.
No longer a bruised solo folker, she blossomed into a contempo folk-rocker, and Tramp continues that progression with great skill. It’s an album so confident and so in keeping with the attributes that make her so special, specifically that huge voice, her sturdy guitar playing, and the well-judged content of her words. What’s more is that the overall depth of feeling never crosses over into the maudlin, and the result is that I’m hard-pressed to find an example of a contemporary “solo-artist” who’s charted such impressive growth over the course of just three albums. So, I’ll quit pressing. Tramp is the goods, and I’m stoked to hear what she comes up with next.
