Best Albums Of 2011: 30-26

It has been a while since I wrote anything for Another Dying Artform. That was not such a bad thing as getting a new job and starting down a new career path filled the space that was being patched by being able to write and think critically about the music I enjoy. Even with my new pressures and huge life shift, I still read about music, procured what I could and thought about what words I would be writing, editing and obsessing over before publishing. In 2011, there was still a lot of new discoveries, some disappointments and head scratchers and a few moments of greatness that need to be recognized. Although 2012 will definitely be busy and full of changes, my goal will ideally be to balance work, family and actively write ADA throughout the year, promoting the music that deserves as much attention as can be gathered. I hope you, whether it be friend, fan or someone who stumbled upon ADA by accident discovers something new. For me, that is what it is all about.

30-26 | 25-21 | 20-16 | 15-11 | 10-6 | 5-1

#30: CANT - Dreams Come True

Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear fame has kept him pretty active since the band's zenith-reaching LP Veckatimest. He has most notably produced last year's Twin Shadow debut and started Terrible Records where his side project CANT can get the loving attention that an indie label can give while stepping firmly always from that Grizzly Bear moniker and all the expectation that goes along with it. Dreams Come True has a real bedroom, one man show feel, thick with layers of humming synth broken up by patches of bass and guitar that are purposely unsettled. Often surprising with new themes, Taylor tries out some creepy melancholia on "Bang",  electronic steel on "Answer" and smooth yacht rock on "The Edge" with equal success. Overall, Dreams Come True is a provocative little experiment that ably captures that excess creativity while keeping one sharp for next year's big triumph from his "other band".

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CANT - Believe

#29: Tapes n' Tapes - Outside

This is your typical "Band makes a great album, band stumbles on the followup, band is forgotten in the shuffle" story. This Twin Cities foursome had to do something big to capture everyone's attention again, and accomplished that with their insistent rocker "Freak Out". The rest of the album is positive and buoyant, playfully teasing with rhythm and mood, shaking and swaying and reminding the listener of why they received comparisons with Pavement on their 2006 debut The Loon. Throughly overlooked and underestimated, Outside is a solid album of established indie (if there is such a thing), rooted in a sensible rock tradition that nudges the boundaries slightly while dealing low risk grooves that are hard to ignore.

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Tapes n' Tapes - Two Tracks

#28: Holy Ghost! - Holy Ghost!

This is the first example of the unintentional yet unavoidable main theme of 2011. The 80's are back! with an apparent abundance of exclamation points! according to duo Holy Ghost! Under the able guidance of Messrs Murphy and Goldsworthy at DFA, they have crafted a party platter of cunning and effective steppers that with get the cool kids dancing all night. For those of us whose reminisce on the early adventures in club beats, whether it was the hot New Order remix, the nuggets of Chicago house groove or the nameless and faceless Euro anthems that you recall only by muscle memory, Holy Ghost! has given reason to blow the dust off those vinyl 12" hidden away in the storage space.

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Holy Ghost! (Full album stream)

#27: We Were Promised Jetpacks - In The Pit Of The Stomach

This 2nd LP for these blokes was woefully overlooked by the tastemakers, including me. Anthemic and incendiary in all ten of the tracks, In The Pit Of The Stomach pushes so many of my music-lover buttons. Machine gun drumrolls and rock riffs for months are heaped plentifully and topped with a Scottish wail that goes off key just to add more punctuation. Not unlike their other countrymen Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad, WWPJ are never light or easy, opting for sprawling sagas where the power in the poetry is obvious, but they bellow the lyrics anyway.

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We Were Promised Jetpacks - Act On Impulse

#26: Wild Flag - Wild Flag

This is a welcome return for me, even though this LP is technically a debut. I guess any band's dream would be to go out on top and that is exactly what Sleater-Kinney did with their swan song The Woods. Some soul searching and fond absence brings Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss back, with some old friends, to make a seamless transition into S-K II. They spare no riff nor sneer in making an foundation LP that could extend for as long as the band members hold interest. What I personally enjoy most is that Wild Flag squashes the recent dump truck of indie gals penning their odes to the 60's girl group, doing their damnest to recreate their 21st century version of "Leader of the Pack". Instead they keep blazing their singular trail straddling punk, indie and classic rock while the fact that every member is a female becomes incidental. This album simply rocks, gender notwithstanding.

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Wild Flag - Romance

Album Review: Tapes n' Tapes - Outside

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Back in an innocent day and age I like to refer to as "mid-aughts", there was a little band that could from my hometown of Minneapolis who romped through the blogosphere on the wings of a sweet EP and new tracks that referenced all that was good and pure in indie rock. That band was Tapes n' Tapes and the tracks in question were the ingredients that concocted the 2006 album The Loon. It was a soup-to-nuts indie masterpiece that gave as much as it took with quirky numbers that benefited from a stripped bare production that highlighted jittery hooks and abstract lyrics. As is an inevitable commonality for the excitedly and preemptively hyped, the rubber band snapped for Tapes n' Tapes on the next album Walk It Off where an overblown sound (courtesy of the recording style of Dave Fridmann) often clouded their reserved nature. The story now careens into the release of the third LP that for most bands follows the narrative of the "crossroads album". Smartly opting to return to independent production and a self-release on their own label Ibid, will Tapes n' Tapes bounce back and rise or perhaps surpass the great heights of their debut hit or meander back into the pack in this increasingly disposable era of music?

Of course, my lead paragraph just tipped my hand. If Outside was extreme, either to the good or bad, my preface would have either praised or damned their efforts. Instead, we have flashes of past greatness coupled with indiscriminate filler. The opening track "Badaboom" sets a promising tone with an insistent drumbeat and a swelling guitar that teases between the crescendos and finishes with a tempo change that sways until the abrupt finish. The next tracks "SWM" and "One in the World" are only knee-deep pools of quick, sassy grooves that fail to break through their catchy, glossy veneer. Tapes n' Tapes regain their footing on tracks like "Nightfall" whose darker feel, horn bleats and plaintive cries build into an restrained but satisfying finish. They get cryptic again on "Outro" by oddly placing the track with this name in the middle of the album. The beginning waltz shuffle entices, but plugging in a exiting guitar solo that rings with a big finish says much more than words could have.

Outside's big single "Freak Out" is the standout track that literally yanks the listener around like a marionette with a jangling riff and fearless stomp. (Read my initial song review here.) In the rest of the album's second half, Tapes n' Tapes lace the tracks with the noisy clatter that was the poison that killed Walk It Off. Luckily on Outside the lessons have been duly learned as the tracks are mostly salvaged by some quality writing, intriguing twists and buoyant energy. "Hidee Ho" creeps up like a Loon outtake and startles with both phonic and instrumental outbursts that have "concert highlight" written all over it. "On and On" chugs along with heavy keys and simple vocals and splinters in the end with a satisfactory dissonance. By the end of Outside, it is obvious that Tapes n' Tapes have become, through all tribulations and touring, a much more cohesive musical unit. However, rather than choosing a definite direction to travel on Outside, Tapes n' Tapes went back to their homebase and stayed put, releasing an fine yet loose collection of songs that only faintly remind fans of their previous soaring heights.

Purchase Outside here.

Listen to the entire album Outside at Spinner for a limited time.

Tapes n' Tapes - Freak Out (download for free by clicking the down arrow)


Tapes n' Tapes - Badaboom

Tapes n' Tapes Release New Track, Album Out January 11

Twin Cities (my hometown!) natives Tapes n' Tapes came together in 2003 making their quirky hybrid of Midwest indie jangle that referenced the West Coast slacker 'tude of Pavement. They reached it's pinnacle on 2006 LP The Loon where beauty, tragedy, sex and misanthropy came crashing together on 11 tracks of hook-laden good times. It has been a couple of years since their most recent release Walk It Off. Fear not, for the release date of Tapes n' Tapes third full length Outside is due out January 11 on their own Ibid Records.

The first teaser is given in rocker (not disco cover) "Freak Out" that channels some of the strongest tracks on The Loon. The slow country-tinged intro is a just a train building momentum. When that riff kicks in and the drums then hit their double-time stride, the hairs stand up and you know their is no stopping. The breakdown for the whispering confessional to that demon heartbreaker is just a pitstop on the road to indie-pop perfection. I am now official excited for 2011. Download "Freak Out" here.

Purchase Tapes n' Tapes - The Loon here.

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Tapes n' Tapes - Freak Out


Bonus: Tapes n' Tapes were featured in a skit on MTV's sadly short-lived comedy show Human Giant. The premise is that "Indie Marketing Guru", played by Aziz Ansari, basically threatens bloggers and beats up people at Pitchfork to get a higher rating for their album. His intro to their live set was real, because I was there. Hilarious.