As we drift ever closer to the finale of these Top 50 Songs of 2012, let me tell you a bit about what these next ten songs have going on for themselves thematically speaking. There’s a couple R&B love songs, a couple synth pop love songs, about three songs that are unfiltered and angry as they get, and a couple mellower, more relaxed moments. The key thing they all have in common is passion, whether it be for another person, against another person or for life in general. Not everything in this set will likely please you, but if you can discover something new and enjoyable out of this set, I hope you’ll find it worthwhile anyways. For more, let me encourage you to check out the other songs that have been covered on this list so far. Click for:
#50-41
#40-31
#30-21
Category: music Page 116 of 188
Today’s set of ten as part of this Top 50 list cuts right through the middle, but this is the point where I think we really start to hit the meat and potatoes section. Not that the songs that came before it in #50-41 or #40-31 were bad by any means, but as the numbers get lower I get more excited to write about these songs. I genuinely hope you’re enjoying this list so far, and there’s two more days to go until we finally hit #1! For now, please enjoy my Top 50 Songs of 2012, #30-21.
So it’s 12-12-12. It’s the last time it’ll happen in my lifetime, and very likely yours too. That is, unless we’ve come up with a superdrug that will keep us all alive another 100+ years. Man would we have an overpopulation problem if that happened. But what can I say on a date such as this? Enjoy it. Some people consider it to be lucky, and if you’re one of those people, I wish you luck. For me, it’s just another day, except that it looks really cool when you write it out. And honestly, 11-11-11 felt just a little cooler because it’s all the same number. Really it’s neither here nor there. I’m just going on about the date and nothing else to delay the inevitable start of another edition of Pick Your Poison. Don’t let me hold you back. Please enjoy tracks from Invisible Garden, Lovelife, Olympic Swimmers, The Plastic Pals and remixes of tracks by Aesop Rock and How to Dress Well. In the Soundcloud section, you might enjoy streaming songs from Mount Moriah, Nico Vega and Santigold.
Aesop Rock – Cycles to Gehenna (Zavala Remix)
How to Dress Well – & It Was U (Doss Remix)
Invisible Garden – Pirate Ship
M. Constant – Us Tempenauts (Moduloktopus Remix)
Olympic Swimmers – Fallen Trees
Let me start this second set of my Top 50 Songs of 2012 by giving you a small bit of background on how this list was put together. The rules are simple, really. After assembling a list of songs worthy of ranking, I start at #1 and work my way back to #50. In order to qualify for the Top 50, the song must have appeared on an album, EP or 7″ single released sometime in the calendar year of 2012. In an effort to broaden the scope of this list, I also limited this list so only one track from each artist could be included. If you check out my Runners Up list, you’ll notice a few songs on there from artists appearing on this Top 50 list. They’re extra songs I loved this year but was unable to include due to restrictions of time and space and rules. Other than that though, this list is pretty encompassing of the many great songs this year had to offer. Here’s a link to see songs #50-41, which went up yesterday. Now please enjoy #40-31!
It’s new music release Tuesday, but there’s little to nothing worth checking out this week. Okay, there are a couple things. Green Day release their third full length album in 2012, and there’s also more goodies from Peaking Lights and The Wonder Revolution to check out. The soundtrack to the new Judd Apatow film This Is 40 is out this week too, and it features new music from Fiona Apple plus classics from Wilco and Ryan Adams, among others. That pretty well covers everything that isn’t a reissue or greatest hits collection. There’s also new music if you want it right below in today’s Pick Your Poison. Thom Yorke’s supergroup Atoms for Peace have a b-side up for free download, and there’s plenty of other good focus tracks from Circle, Dominic Lord, The Maginot Band and Torkelsen. The Very Best’s remix of Django Django is worth investigating in the Soundcloud section, plus tracks from Katy B (ft. Jessie Ware) and YACHT are great too.
Atoms for Peace – What the Eyeballs Did
Circle – The Magician Part One
Electric Shepherd – Imitation Gardens (Part 1)
Glossary – All Is Well Tonight
The Maginot Band – Veiled Clock
Hello friends, and welcome to the official start of Listmas 2012! It’s been a long time and a lot of songs coming, but we’ve finally made it to that crucial end of the year point where we can look back on the music from the last 11 or so months and place the ultimate judgement upon it. Then we’ll forget all about it weeks later when 2013 starts to consume our brains. Some songs stay with you more than others, just as some songs stand out and make you question what you knew or thought you knew about music as a whole. Selecting my Top 50 Songs of 2012 was no easy task; in fact, I find it much harder to do than selecting my Top 50 Albums of the Year. It’s because albums are collections of songs, and judging 40-60 minutes of music is easier than judging 3-4 minutes. Still, I felt very strongly about a number of tracks this year, so much so that I’ve created a list of 50 more “runners up” that I feel are worth listening to if you haven’t already. I didn’t rank the runners up, but simply placed them in alphabetical order. It makes for a remarkably exciting playlist that I hope you’ll listen to. As for my official Top 50 Songs, that starts in the here and now, and each is assigned a number and official rank. We’ll be doing this 10 songs at a time, one set each day through Friday. That said, please enjoy Faronheit’s Top 50 Songs of 2012: #50-41.
This isn’t much of a post, except to say that in advance of my Top 50 Songs of 2012 list, I wanted to give you more this year. What follows below is a Spotify playlist featuring 50 songs that I consider to be great tracks from this year, but not quite enough to make the official list. I haven’t assigned any of these tracks numbers, and they’re all in alphabetical order by artist. It’s just another great snapshot of some tracks you may have missed, so I hope you’ll at least check some of them out, if not listen to the entire 3 hour playlist. Call it a bit of bonus fun. Enjoy!
Welcome back (from the weekend). I’d like to go over a couple quick housekeeping notes for the site right now, if you don’t mind. I had hoped that last week would be the official start of the annual end-of-year countdowns known as Listmas, however if you’ve paid close attention to the posts it’s clear that didn’t quite happen. Alas, I’m a little swamped at the moment, and getting all these lists sorted out for you before Christmas has been more time consuming than anticipated. Still, I’m pleased to note that this week most definitely 100% begins the Listmas season. I’ll be counting down my Top 50 Songs of 2012 starting later today, and that will progress throughout the week. Next week I’ll do the same thing with my Top 50 Albums of 2012. In the week between Christmas and New Years I may have a couple odds and ends for you as well, including my Top EPs of the year and a final look at how the Class of 2012 fared. It’s going to be a blast, and I hope you’ll be paying close attention to the site for all of it. I think you’ll really enjoy what I’ve put together for you this Listmas. Oh, also, Pick Your Poison will be going on a mini “vacation” for the last week of 2012/first week of 2013. I’ll need the break to decompress from the year-end stuff, and nobody sends me much then anyways. For now though, it’s business as usual. Enjoy downloads today from The Bixby Knolls, The Buttercream Gang, Glossary, Hayden, Hey Anna and Lemonade’s remix of Young Dreams. In the Soundcloud section, stream songs from Chela and Ducktails too.
The Bixby Knolls – Through the Cracks
The Buttercream Gang – Couch Games
Criminal Hygiene – Rearrange Me
Erin McKeown – Proof (Payoff Mix)
On a dark, cold and somewhat rainy night in Chicago, the tour that is Other Lives and Indians rolled into town for one final gasp of air before disappearing for awhile. See, Other Lives have been on tour for what seems like forever. They released their second full length Tamer Animals in mid-2011, and have barely taken a break since then. They’ve been around the world and back multiple times, and were even offered a slot opening for Radiohead for the first leg of their King of Limbs tour in early 2012. By the time they showed up in Chicago for the first of two shows, this particular leg of 40+ American dates extended back to mid-October. But Chicago was the final stop, at which point they promised no more touring for awhile as they worked steadily to complete their next album. Fresh 4AD signee Indians has also been with them for this last set of dates, touring in advance of the debut album Somewhere Else, due out in January. So how did both bands fare after so much time on the road and the end in sight? Read on to find out.
Søren Løkke Juul is the name of the Copenhagen multi-instrumentalist behind the name Indians, and though press materials often reference a band along with the word “they,” the genuine reality is it’s just the one guy. Well, he has a friend that helps with stage set-up and take down and runs the soundboard during the show, but Juul is the only person on stage, at least for the time being. Like many great singer-songwriters, there’s a good chance a couple people might eventually join up with him to help make performing live easier and better. That’s not to say he was bad though, because there was something thrilling and impressive about the way he twisted knobs, pushed buttons, and played keyboards and guitars, sometimes all in the course of a single song. He’s clearly very talented, even if he looks a little lonely on stage. But this was the way he originally constructed the songs that will appear on the first Indians album, before being given a budget and a studio and a couple extra hands to help flesh out some very raw demos. All things considered, 2012 has worked out quite well for Juul, as he’s gone from playing his first live shows ever this past February in his hometown, to getting a record deal, studio time and a world tour. In essence, the shrink wrap has barely been removed on this project that is likely to lead to big things for 2013. For now though, you could say that Indians are still a bit green when it comes to performances. With more than 40 shows under his belt on this fall tour alone, surely Juul has grown in confidence and stage presence, but he’s not quite there yet. Maybe it’s a product of trying to do too much on his own, or maybe as he continues to tour things will only get better.
At bigger issue are the songs themselves. When he’s got a guitar in hand, Indians can sound a little like The Tallest Man on Earth crossed with M. Ward. When working on keyboards or other electronic elements, he can be a Toro y Moi or Baths. Almost everything sounds like something you’ve heard before in one context or another, and none of it particularly stands out or is strikingly catchy. Perhaps that’s more to do with the way these songs were performed rather than how they actually sound on record. The album version of “Cakelakers” (MP3) for example sounds positively radiant compared to the shrug-worthiness of how it was done live. Still, it seems unlikely that Indians are a future success story among intense music lovers, at least not until he starts to push and strain against his current limitations. Keep one eye on this guy though – the crowd at Schubas really seemed to like him, and he was warm and friendly to every fan that approached him after the show. Kindness might not win you awards and critical acclaim, but connecting with people no matter how good or bad your music is can in many ways be an even greater currency throughout your career.
Preorder Indians’ Somewhere Else from 4AD
When it comes to Other Lives, awards and critical acclaim also aren’t on the list (yet), but that doesn’t seem to bother them any. With good reason too, because it’s strikingly easy to enjoy one of their records while appreciating the sheer talent that went into making it. Their sound is largely based in folk with Fleet Foxes-like harmonies, but their ability to incorporate everything from horns to xylophones to cello and piano adds a sense of effortless beauty to the proceedings. Watching them pull it off live is that much more impressive of a feat, as pretty much everyone in the band plays multiple instruments on every song. The energy they bring to their performances is both literally and figuratively electric too, as frontman Jesse Tabish will pound on his piano, smash a few cymbals and generally jump around his part of the stage while various lightbulbs flicker on and off in time with the music. It’s a relatively unique stage setup, one that embraces the showmanship of bigger bands playing in bigger venues, but on a more modest budget. Other Lives would have put on equally interesting show had they not used the oversized on-stage lightbulbs, but there was something indiscreetly charming about them anyways. There was an energy and a passion to their set that just grabbed hold of you and wouldn’t let go. They extend songs where they can get away with it, and make a sharp left turn into a cover of Nirvana’s “Something in the Way” during the bridge of one of their own tracks, simply because there’s a similar chord progression. Transformations in tracks like “For 12” and “Dust Bowl III” somehow reach new heights compared to their studio versions, and on occasion the thought hits you that this is a band trying to push themselves. They’ve been on tour for so long and played these songs so many times, instead of getting bored with them, they’re finding new and creative ways to take what works in them and place greater emphasis on those elements. It’s one of the big reasons why seeing them live is essential to truly appreciating their songs and records.
They played a new song towards the end of their set, and it fit in well with everything else that they’ve done to this point, which can be viewed as good or bad depending on how you feel about that earlier work. The encore was entertaining too, because Tabish came out to play a song solo on just a keyboard, but apparently broke his on the final song of the main set. So he used one of the other keyboards on stage and it worked out okay. That broken keyboard wasn’t so much an accident as it was the result of a show where the band truly gave their all, and a few smashed keys was part of it. Schubas is apparently a very special venue for the band, and undoubtedly they treated their performance as such. The following night Other Lives had their final show of the tour at Schubas sister venue Lincoln Hall. It’s nearly double the size and boasts a powerful, modern sound system that makes Schubas sound almost meek by comparison. It’s the venue that this band has grown into, on the road to even bigger and better things. Yet in so many regards you can’t beat the intimacy and charm that Schubas has in spades. The point being, while it’s kind of Other Lives to essentially underplay a show in Chicago because they like the venue, it may also be the last time they do it as their popularity continues to rise. It might be six months or a year or longer before Other Lives have a new record and are ready to tour again, and when they finally do, it’s going to be an event not to be missed no matter how good or bad the new songs sound. I walked into Schubas on a rainy Friday night in December with the expectation of hearing some pleasant songs from a pleasant band. What I got was an intense, impressive show that turned me into an instant convert. Other Lives are the real deal.
Click past the jump to stream Tamer Animals in full!
It’s time for your weekly Chicago show update, this week brought to you by the letters F and U. I mean that in the most loving way possible. Anyways, from time to time I like to keep my Chicago readers updated on a good show coming through town that they might not otherwise be aware of. Of course when the show is sold out, it’s relatively clear that maybe awareness is reasonably strong. Case in point, on Friday night, Other Lives will be headlining a sold out show at Schubas. That’s what I planned to talk about here, and I’ll mention the details just in case they release a few more stray tickets before doors open tomorrow night. Tickets are $16, the show starts at 10PM and is 21+. Go here to see if tickets are still sold out. If you really want to see Other Lives though, and why wouldn’t you, it may be comforting to know that they’ll be playing a second non-sold out show on Saturday night, this time at the larger Lincoln Hall. Tickets for that are relatively cheaper ($14) and it’s only 18+ for the 10PM show. You can buy tickets for that Lincoln Hall show by going here. For those unfamiliar with Other Lives, a quick tutorial will reveal that they’re from L.A., and make contemplative orchestral rock. They’ve had some songs placed in popular TV shows before, and opened for Radiohead on a bunch of recent tour dates. Thom Yorke calls them friends, and he even remixed one of their songs under his Atoms for Peace moniker. Consider what might happen if Sigur Ros and Fleet Foxes ever teamed up, and that should give you a good idea of what Other Lives sound like. Or you can always stream all of their last album Tamer Animals on Spotify or Soundcloud. It’s pretty good stuff, and they’re dynamite live. Indians are opening for them on this current tour, which is another great reason to try and see them perform. If you’ve got your Saturday night in Chicago free, make the trip and go see them. Okay, let’s do Pick Your Poison for Thursday. Recommended tracks today come from Bloody Amateur, Dream Boat, The Longwalls, San Fermin and Split Screens. In the Soundcloud section stream tracks from John Cale, Lowlakes and Memory Tapes’ remix of Tame Impala.
Calvin Love – Magic Hearts (Cooper Saver Remix)
Eli Escobar – Set My Heart on Fire
Sally Shapiro – He Keeps Me Alive (Cedric Gervais Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
Lizzy Plapinger (MS MR) + Mr. Dream – Israel (Siouxsie and the Banshees cover)
Tame Impala – Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (Memory Tapes Remix)
If you ask me (which you didn’t), the Grammys are a pretty useless award. Of the four principal awards talented & artistic people can win, including the Oscars, Tonys and Emmys, the Grammy is easily the least important. The main reason why has to do with their general disrespect for legitimately good music. Okay, so they sometimes get things right, like when Arcade Fire won the most prestigious Album of the Year award in 2011 for their record The Suburbs. Of course that also created this Tumblr, which pulls together the hundreds of people commenting online and asking what this Arcade Fire band was all about. Yes, we live on a planet where a fair portion of the population has never heard of Arcade Fire. Outside of that isolated incident though, the Grammys often prove themselves either out of touch or reward popular but not necessarily good artists. The nominations for 2013 were announced tonight, and once again it was a mixed bag of good and bad. Grizzly Bear, for example, was robbed, as were Grimes and a whole bunch of other artists that put out great records this year. Of course the person that may have put out the greatest record of all, Frank Ocean, actually did earn his keep, pulling in a total of 6 nominations. Also earning 6 nominations were The Black Keys, who will have interesting competition vs. Coldplay, Muse and Bruce Springsteen in the Best Rock Album category. Just mentioning Muse and Coldplay as nominees should give you a sign as to what they’re working with. The Best Alternative Music Album nominees are almost always interesting though, and this year is no different with Fiona Apple, M83, Gotye, Tom Waits and Bjork all up for that one. There’s a bunch of other categories with names you’ve probably heard of getting nominations, but I’m not going to name them all. Instead, let me simply advise you to go here to see all the nominees. I don’t think any of the bands in today’s Pick Your Poison have earned Grammy nominations before, but that’s perfectly okay. There’s still lots of good stuff in this set from Amor de Dias, Beach Fossila, The Birthday Suit, Broke For Free, Burywood and Lucius (covering Freelance WHales). In the Soundcloud section please enjoy streams from Cass McCombs, Eat Skull and Thee Oh Sees, plus a holiday track from Kishi Bashi.
The Birthday Suit – Uh-Huh Uh-Huh
Giant Giant Sand – Undiscovered Country (John Parish Remix)
The Goodnight Darlings – Red Hot
Lucius – Ghosting (Freelance Whales cover)
Radiohead – Everything in Its Right Place (Jeremy Hills End of the World Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
alt-J – Fitzpleasure (Betatraxx Remix)
Eat Skull – How Do I Know When To Say Goodnight?
Kishi Bashi – It’s Christmas But It’s Not White Here In Our Town
In December, it’s almost nothing but reissues, “deluxe” editions and compilations being released. Still, let me give you some sort of rundown of things to look out for in your local record store or online this week. New or remastered material from Atoms for Peace, Blur, Can, Interpol, Memory Tapes, Mogwai, Scott Walker, Smashing Pumpkins and Wiz Khalifa. Short list, right? Well, Pick Your Poison is regular sized, though later this month it’ll be going on a brief hiatus for the holidays. For now though, we’re in good shape. Please enjoy tracks today from Circle, Communist Daughter (covering The Mountain Goats), Do Make Say Think, Prudence Rees-Lee, Shelf Nunny and TKTTSM. In the Soundcloud section, stream some delightful bits from Brother Dege, Kate Boy, Rick Ross and Stepson (El-P and Nick Diamonds).
Biscuithead & The Biscuit Badgers – Dinosaurs
Circle – Over Broken Hills (Demo)
Civilianz – Came of Age (Leitbur Mix)
Communist Daughter – No Children (The Mountain Goats cover)
Do Make Say Think – Greed Waltz
The Helmholtz Resonators – Clipper Ship
Kris Menace ft. Miss Kittin – Hide (Alexander Maier Remix)
Montag – Memori (Trésors Remix)
Plastic Operator – Happy Holidays
Prudence Rees-Lee – Emmanuelle
SOUNDCLOUD
The Bloody Angle – Jesus & The Dallas Cowboys
Brother Dege – Too Old To Die Young
Free Swim – A Rip-Roaring Christmas
Happy December! I’m excited to report that as is the case every year, it’s officially list-making season. The music industry shuts down and stops releasing new material just so everyone can focus on the previous 11 months and distill the best songs and albums from it. Here at Faronheit it will be no different, and the yearly period I like to call “Listmas” will officially kick off later this week. To give you an idea of what the timeline is like, all next week I’ll be revealing my Top 50 Songs of 2012. The week after that, aka the week before Christmas, I’ll be unveiling my Top 50 Albums of 2012. It’s an exciting time, and I’m really thrilled to be able to bring all this to you. It also means more content on the site, because it could really use some more (I am not being sarcastic about that). So please sit back, relax with a warm mug of hot cocoa by your fireplace, and enjoy the year-end delights that are “Best of” lists about anything and everything. Ooh, but Pick Your Poison, that’s all new leading up to Christmas. Great stuff to look out for today from Evil Eyes, Gliss, Helado Negro, Marble Lion, and Superhuman Happiness. Please also enjoy streaming good songs in the Soundcloud section from Girls Names, Linus Pauling Quartet and Julia Holter (covering Fleetwood Mac).
David Lee – We’re All Meant for Something Good
Heyward Howkins – Praline Country
Superhuman Happiness – See Me On My Way
Telephoned – Drowned (Smashing Pumpkins cover)
Youngblood Hawke – We Come Running (The Knocks Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
Balthazar – The Oldest of Sisters
Girls Names – Hypnotic Regression
Goldroom – Sweetness Alive (feat. SLL)
Julia Holter – Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Okay, here’s something a little bit out of the ordinary. Ironically enough, the event is part of a series called “Normal Crashers,” if that tells you anything about it. But it’s happening this upcoming Monday, December 3rd at 6:30pm in Chicago. It’s a free (stripped down) show from Twin Shadow, in a place you might not expect. Where exactly? I don’t know, but it’ll be somewhere in Wicker Park. That’s all part of the fun little mystery that goes along with this show. And hey, Twin Shadow is coming off a great new record this year with Confess, and seeing them for free is just icing on the cake. Throw in an unconventional location with a 100 person capacity and you’re set for an unforgettable intimate experience. All will be revealed shortly before the show on Monday. To get the 411 with complete details, RSVP to the show on Facebook. Now let’s talk about a weekend-starting edition of Pick Your Poison. Recommended tracks today come from Cheatahs, Cliff Dwellers, Dominic Lord, Flume, Novi, and Parlour Tricks. In the Soundcloud section, stream some good tracks from Alexander Spit, Golden Grrrls and Metz. Have a great weekend!
Dominic Lord – Sin City (Cruel Lords)
Drew Holcolmb & The Neighbors – Tennessee
Stereofunk – El Patrol (Frederic De Carvalho Remix)
SOUNDCLOUD
Alexander Spit – Coastal / Hyperion
The small subgenre of music known to most as post-rock seems to have run its course. That’s not to suggest that the steadied and beautiful hands that craft such intricate melodies have stopped doing what they do best. No, like any particular style of music, there are ebbs and flows, and what was once popular suddenly becomes shunned by the fickle masses as they search for the “next big thing.” You take a look at bands like Sigur Ros and Mogwai, and simply glancing at their catalogues will show you how the quality of their recordings appeared to drop compared to their earlier, late ’90s efforts. Of course the more you create the more material there is for comparison and criticism. Had there been more Nirvana or Beatles records, maybe their legacies wouldn’t have heen as strong as they are today. And while some of the disdain for many modern-day post-rock efforts stems from recycling old sounds and failing to make forward evolutionary progress, nobody seems to be entirely sure where to go next. A band like Swans certainly qualifies for the post-rock label, but have always had a large following among heavy metal, industrial and post-punk fans too, and being able to keep toes dipped into multiple pools has benefited them greatly. It’s helped their new record The Seer rank among some of 2012’s best. But when you break the genre down to its basest instincts, the ultimate goal is to make primarily instrumental music that speaks to our emotions and sends chills down our spines. You don’t even need to be original if what you’re creating pushes the right buttons. That principle applies to all music, with the understanding that it’s better to be good than cool.
In a sense, with their return from a hiatus along with their first album of new material in 10 years, Godspeed You! Black Emperor are filling a void we didn’t know was there in the first place. Though their music has little to no vocals save for the occasional sound clip, the band’s mission is far more politically oriented than you might expect. They’ve never shyed away from commenting on world issues, and the collective’s unofficial frontman Efrim Menuck has been called an anarchist on more than one occasion. They insert themselves into this commentary and these situations even though you won’t hear it addressed in the songs that they play. Well, as they argue (and it’s one of the reasons they took nearly a decade off), their music is created based on both physical and political pain happening around the world. They vanished about a year after 9/11 and as the U.S. was starting to become involved with Iraq and Afghanistan. You’d suspect these things would inspire the band, and their 2002 album Yanqui U.X.O. was its own political statement, with missiles on the album cover and interior artwork drawing connections between major record labels (AOL Time-Warner, BMG, Universal) and various arms manufacturers. There’d be plenty more political fodder and terror to draw from moving forwards for the band, but they chose to explore side projects and other avenues of creation for awhile. Now with the U.S. all but out of Iraq and Afghanistan wrapping up as well, one would hope that a period of relative peace was right around the corner. Yet Godspeed came back to life in late 2010 bigger and bolder than ever, though existing solely as a touring entity. Then came an October surprise. At the start of the month they announced there’d be a new album called Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, and that it would be released in two weeks’ time. They dropped that bomb on everyone.
Yet GY!BE would save their biggest shocker for those that actually listened to the new album. They haven’t changed their sound or done something drastic and unexpected. Quite the opposite in fact. These new songs sound more focused, beautiful and impressive than just about anything they’ve ever done. Nobody quite sounded like them during their initial run in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and nobody still sounds like them today. To those that would say this is a classic case of absence making the heart grow fonder, there’s an equally compelling argument to be made that expectations have only grown for the band in their time away. Just take groups like Pixies or Pavement as examples. Both went away for awhile and left some seriously important and great music in their wake. Upon their return, they chose to tour and only play their old stuff. Pavement has once more vanished into the ether, a band of myth and legend, while Pixies continue to tour and rake in cash almost exclusively because they can. But for so many success stories that don’t want to or are afraid to mess with their back catalogue and legacies, there are the ones that push forwards and hope for the best. Dinosaur Jr. and Guided By Voices are two good examples of bands with solid second halves of their careers (so far), while grunge stalwarts like Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden seem to be having the opposite effect with their “comeback” records. But getting back to Godspeed, perhaps they avoided some of the backlash that’s associated with comeback records because of the quick turnaround they pulled. Announcing a new album and then immediately selling it at shows followed by a traditional store release two weeks later didn’t give anybody time to react. With prejudging almost entirely removed from the equation, the collective listening experience has been tempered and thoughtful and understandably gobsmacked at how excellent these songs really are.
It’s a huge help that two of the songs on Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! are tracks the band was playing around with since 2003. There are live recordings of “Mladic” (formerly known as “Albanian”) and “We Drift Like Worried Fire” (formerly known as “Gamelan”) from the pre-hiatus period, making their studio recorded inclusion here a satisfactory note for long-time fans. What’s most fascinating is how much both of the songs evolved due to time and the addition of new players. They’ve kept many of the same parts so they’re recognizable as the same songs from years ago, but so much has also been re-imagined and re-purposed to give these songs a fuller and more dynamic feel. “Mladic” is heavier and more visceral than ever, slowly building over its 20 minutes with Middle Eastern-style guitars before hitting its stride in the final seven minutes with pure noise and intense orchestral changes. Rarely have GY!BE gone so dark, but it’s also immensely important that they do take those emotions to heart as part of a healthy balance with the lighter fare. It’s an exploration and ultimately expulsion of their demons, filtered through the glasses of an influential band like Swans. Once all that hand wringing finishes in dramatic fashion, relief and calm take over and provide solemn guidance through the rest of the record. “We Drift Like Worried Fire” is positively placid by comparison, and in fact shows off the band’s tender and minimalist side. Starting with precious few notes on a guitar, the track accrues more and more elements to create a lush stew of infinitely measurable beauty that is likely to make the boys in Sigur Ros jealous. At that point in time, about 10 minutes in, a peak is hit and there’s a sudden explosion of joyous emotion and sonic glory that is just about enough to restore your faith in humanity whether you lost it or not. The whole world suddenly fades away so you can be fully present in that moment because it is a knockout punch.
Naturally, the two shorter tracks on Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, clocking in at 6.5 minutes apiece, can feel like stopgaps compared to the duo of big showcase 20 minute monstrosities. If you buy the album on vinyl, “Their Helicopters’ Sing” and “Strung Like Lights at Thee Printemps Erable” don’t even make the main 12″ but are instead relegated to a separate 7″. That doesn’t make them outcasts though, and if you buy a digital or CD copy of the record their placement at tracks two and four creates a nice buffer between the longer pieces and allows the group to continue to throw curveballs and variations in their already distinct sound. Both tracks are drones that are positively hypnotic when listened to with eyes closed and a clear mind. “Strung Like Lights at Thee Printemps Erable” shows off a little more instability than its nearly equal length counterpart, but both bear an eerie sonic resemblance to some great moments on the F#A#∞ record. It’s just another great reminder that no other band has quite the mastery of sound or has carved such a distinct place for themselves in the world of post-rock. No matter the state of the genre right now or in the future, there’s very little that can change the power and emotional wallop this record packs into its four tracks and 53 minutes. We’ve missed you, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Welcome back.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Mladic
Buy Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! from Constellation Records
