Anonymous asked: hey what'd you think of the new giles corey album

Have you read any of these?

15 Great Connecticut Albums From 2011

I know I promised to do a top ten list of my favorite Connecticut albums from this year back when I made my original list schedule, but it was too hard to narrow the list down to just 10. I simply heard too many good albums from my home state this year to pick so few as my favorites. I also found it too difficult to order them properly, so I just put them in alphabetical order. So, with that having been said, here is the next installment in my list series: 15 great Connecticut albums from 2011! Bandcamp links to stream each album are available when applicable.

1. boy crush - hauntr

Indie Pop, Psychedelic Pop

 The High Pop singer’s debut album from his solo project boy crush demonstrates an impressive level of maturity that I never expected. Hauntr is a brief but memorable collection of fragile, lo-fi pop songs about ghosts. Apparently it was recorded in a haunted house, which you may or may not believe after hearing it.

2. Bust It! - Hell Is Other People

Hardcore Punk

Seeing Bust It! live at The Mannor last month made me feel like it was 1983 and I was in Washington, D.C. Their EP Hell Is Other People, released back in March, isn’t entirely derivative of 80’s hardcore punk, but it does have that same level of raw aggression and recklessness. It’s also a lot of fun too, as evidenced by the dynamic opener “Intro/Empty Drawer,” which somehow fits three or four distinct movements into three minutes.

3. Co-Pilots - All My Friends Are Crutches, Because God Knows My Legs Are Broken

Indie Rock, Emo

You could look at Co-Pilots’ All My Friends Are Crutches EP in two ways. In one sense, it’s an album that has perhaps the most potential of any new band in the Fairfield county scene to lead to something truly great, with its inspired lyricism, very lengthy, epic tracks that never get boring, and song structures derived from post-rock. On the other hand, it’s probably the most crushingly frustrating record I’ve heard in a long time, as much of the album’s potential is stymied by its demo-quality production. Thankfully, the band has announced that they will be putting out a new EP this winter. Stay tuned for more information on that! 

4. Fugue - YEARS

Post-Rock, Math Rock

In a year full of crushing breakups, Fugue’s disbandment was one of the saddest, especially for people in the Connecticut/Massachusetts scene. On their final EP YEARS, the band had just started to truly live up to their potential as a sweeping, dynamic, instrumental post-rock band. YEARS’ math rock inflections and subtle electronic influences set it apart from the pack of local post-rock groups, leaving listeners with a great last release to remember Fugue by. 

5. Giles Corey - Giles Corey

Slowcore, Shoegaze, Ambient Folk

Seeing this record here is probably no surprise to anyone who read my Top 50 Albums of 2011 list, on which Giles Corey claimed the top spot. I’ve said a lot about this already, so I’ll keep it brief here. It’s interesting that despite consistently producing great music, Dan Barrett’s Enemies List Home Recordings doesn’t really feel like a part of the local scene at all. The New England identity of Giles Corey goes much deeper — Back to the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, from which Barrett’s solo project takes its name. Listening to these creepy, hollow sounding ghost folk songs in that context gives them even greater emotional power. 

Purchase the album HERE.

6. The Guru - Native Sun

Indie Rock, Indie Pop, Psychedelic Pop

No other record defined my Connecticut summer this year more than The Guru’s debut LP Native Sun, a joyful, resonant, and deceptively funky indie pop gem about youth. I caught tons of Guru shows over the summer, which were consistently packed, and witnessed these songs being brought to life, but when the summer turned to fall and the kids went their separate ways (Two went off to college together), I still had Native Sun blasting through my speakers to remind me of those summer nights.

7. Heavy Breath - Ugly Americans

Sludge Metal, Post-Hardcore

A lot of great punk came out of Connecticut this year, but nothing was as heavy or as badass as this. Heavy Breath’s Ugly Americans EP is a brutal indictment of American politics, culture, and society, conveyed through scorching bass and guitar grooves and delivered by chord-shredding vocals. If you’re pissed off at America, or if you just want to feel pissed off, Ugly Americans is for you.

8. Jerkagram  - We’ve Only Come To Leave

Math Rock, Post-Rock

Jerkagram is a pair of cerebral Connecticut musicians who, despite being well versed in art rock and angular math rock, really enjoy simply jamming together. Their debut record We’ve Only Come To Leave finds those two musical worlds colliding, with a stirring, semi-improvised mix of mathy guitar bursts and impressive percussive fills. Despite opening for artists like Kayo Dot and Marnie Stern, this album went under the radar, which is unfortunate. You should all check it out if this sounds like your thing.

9. M.T. Bearington - Love Buttons

Indie Rock, Indie Pop

The New Haven band M.T. Bearington have been working up to this release for quite a while, getting sponsored by the likes of Mates Of State and releasing a number of records since getting started around 2006. Love Buttons represents the apex of their vision: A smart, undeniably catchy indie pop record with just enough weirdness to stand out. I first saw the band live opening for Man Man back in October, and although I didn’t particularly understand the pairing at the time, it makes a lot of sense now.

10. Ovlov - What’s So Great About The City?

Indie Rock, Noise Rock, Shoegaze

Connecticut’s best 90’s indie rock revivalists put out an unmissable EP this year, entitled What’s So Great About The City? The album placed on my top 50 list, so I won’t go into detail, but suffice to say it’s an extremely catchy and memorable indie rock record with heavy shoegaze guitars. With just four tracks, you can sit through the record in just over 10 minutes, or replay this over and over again if you want.

11. Sinforiano Diaz - The Moosup Sessions

Indie Folk

Although Thomas Diaz, best known as the singer from The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, has been recording as Sinforiano Diaz for years, this is the first piece of recorded material from his solo project that I’ve been able to dig up. Although the four songs on The Moosup Sessions were not recorded this year, the album itself was made publicly available early in 2011. These songs — Fragile, delicate folk gems — give listeners a tremendous insight into the mind of one of the more enigmatic frontmen in the Connecticut scene right now.

Read more about Sinforiano Diaz / Download The Moosup Sessions HERE.

12. Suns - Be Good Boy

Indie Rock, Emo

Fairfield County trio Suns raised their stature earlier this year with their EP Be Good Boy, a record that brought an aggressive rawness to their indie rock product. The album’s not as consistent as I would have liked it to be, but it’s got a great sound and some singularly great songs. Fans of anthemic, angst-ridden indie rock bands like Titus Andronicus will definitely want to check this out.

13. Wess Meets West - Chevaliers

Post-Rock

This is another one that placed high on my year end albums list. Wess Meets West’s Chevaliers was one of the biggest and heaviest albums I heard all year, especially of the post-rock variety. With Fugue having disbanded, this decidedly smaller group now stands head and shoulders over their peers in the local post-rock scene, and this incredibly ambitious record solidifies their place.  

14. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Are Here To Help You (split w/ Deer Leap)

Emo, Indie Rock, Post-Rock

Based on the amount of coverage that I gave it ever since its release, it should be pretty clear that The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die’s split with Deer Leap is one of my favorite records of the year. TWIABP’s side is the highlight, boasting four fantastic atmospheric emo songs that are easily my favorites from the band. Topshelf Records recently released the split as a 12”, and my copy came in the other day on white vinyl. It sounds fantastic, and I’m really glad I ordered it. 

15. Year In Review - I’m Sorry Mario, But Our Princess Is In Another Castle

Pop-Punk, Indie Rock

The Fairfield County scene really cleaned up this year, as it turns out, with a number of great new bands sprouting up and releasing solid material. Year In Review is a pop-punk band from the area with indie rock credibility and none of the annoying cliches generally associated with that style of music. Their record I’m Sorry Mario, But Our Princess Is In Another Castle is an EP comprising five songs about growing older, approaching adulthood, and losing the innocence of youth. It’s pertinent, catchy, and interesting, and definitely worth a few listens.

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Check back here tomorrow for the final installment in my list series, my 10 favorite shows of 2011. 

Top 25 Songs of 2011

The second installment in my 2011 Year End lists series is a list of what I view to be the top 25 songs of 2011. Songs were judged for personal appeal, cultural significance, and musical memorability, and have been ordered from great to greatest. I assembled an 8-tracks playlist of all 25 songs in order which you can stream below, and listen to while you read. Youtube links to each song have also been attached if you prefer that. Check back here tomorrow for my top 10 Connecticut albums of the year!

edit: The 8tracks embed is not working so if you want to stream the mix just click HERE

25. The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - “Belong”

Indie rock culture is all about finding community in a world where you just don’t belong. That’s what The Pains of Being Pure At Heart seem to think, anyway. On the title track to their new LP, the New York City indie pop group ups the shoegazey guitars and taps into that confusing but universal desire. “We just don’t belong,” frontman Kip Berman sings. Thanks in no small part to this song, it seems that they’ve found their place.

24. Into It. Over It. - “Connecticut Steps”

If you’re still wondering just how far reaching the effect of Mitch Dubey’s death last March was, look no further than Into It. Over It.’s “Connecticut Steps.” Written in reaction to the murder of Dubey, who was for years a fixture in the Connecticut punk scene and a friend to many, “Connecticut Steps” perfectly captured the feelings that countless people had on that cold March morning when we heard the news — Uncertainty, fear, sadness, denial, and more indescribable emotions — all through the uniquely personal lens of Evan Weiss’ masterful songwriting. But just as I’m sure Mitch would have wanted, the song doesn’t wallow in despair, but instead looks towards the future. “It’s what you meant / To everyone you met,” Weiss sings. We don’t know what “it” is for Weiss, but that’s what’s so beautiful about it; It allows us to supply our own memories. 

23. Azealia Banks - “212” (Ft. Lazy Jay)

Azealia Banks’ raunchy, potty-mouthed banger “212” was far and away the definitive hipster-hop jam of 2011. There was something so initially jarring and perfect about the contrast between the song’s lyrics and Banks’ cute girl image that I still get surprised every time Banks says “cock” or “fuck” or “I guess that cunt gettin’ eaten.” I mean, seriously, that is some raw shit! Of course, the lyrical loops that Banks throws the listener for are only made more alarming by the speed at which she delivers them, which is impressive considering she claims to only have started rapping within the past year. With its bouncy Lazy Jay beat (which she illegally sampled, just so you know) and lyrics made unforgettable by Banks’ relentless delivery, 212 hints at some big things for this girl in 2(0)12.

22. Los Campesinos! - “By Your Hand”

Welsh twee punks Los Campesinos! made their gradual and inevitable transition to a relatively subdued indie rock sound this year with their new LP Hello Sadness, in an attempt to shy away from the manic energy of their previous releases and focus on developing their lyrics. Unfortunately, it didn’t really pay off on the whole, and the record came off as rather middling for the most part. The lead single “By Your Hand” is fantastic though, and succeeds where most of the rest of Hello Sadness fails at communicating a more mature vision of Los Campesinos! The angst-ridden bitterness of Gareth Campesinos!’ lyrics is still very present, but the raw clang of their past efforts has been condensed into the more palpable structure of a pop song, complete with an infectious and perfectly LC! chorus: “By your hand is the only end I foresee.”

21. Rihanna - “We Found Love” (Feat. Calvin Harris)

For a lot of people, the world in 2011 did seem like a rather hopeless place. Political riots, social/economic unrest, and revolutions swept over the globe like wildfire, being met at every turn with ardent opposition that often resulted in violence. It was a tumultuous climate that we went through, and one that doesn’t show signs of settling down any time soon. It goes without saying that these issues were/are very real to a lot of people. So perhaps it’s ill-fitting that the most compelling declaration of love in spite of hopelessness this year came from Rihanna, one of the biggest pop stars in the world, someone who would never really be negatively affected by the global economic inequity or class issues. But who really cares anyway when the song is as good as “We Found Love” is? This is pop music at its finest, with an electric, pulsating beat that seems to never stop swelling and hooks for miles. Although the instrumentation constantly teeters on the edge of self-destruction, Rihanna herself sounds confident and poised, declaring the song’s titular chorus with conviction. If she’s trying to convince listeners that she’s real, I buy it.

20. The Strokes - “Under Cover Of Darkness”

When the “Under Cover Of Darkness” digital single dropped, it seemed for a moment that there was hope for The Strokes yet. Although they’ve only gotten bigger with each of their four releases, the band has always lived critically in the shadow of their debut Is This It. But with its instantly classic guitar riff and Julian Casablancas’ distinct vocal mannerisms, “Under Cover Of Darkness” seemed like it was just great enough to make The Strokes worth caring about again. Unfortunately, even a single this good wasn’t enough to save Angles from being as bad as anything else they did post-Is This It, but at least we still have it to listen to and to remember that one time when, for a second there, it felt like 2001 again.

19. Kendrick Lamar - “Fuck Your Ethnicity”

In a hip-hop culture dominated by two idealistically separate but closely linked styles of aggressive rap, socially conscious hip-hop seems rather irrelevant. It took a truly courageous and talented MC like West Coast rapper Kendrick Lamar to send a jolt through the hip-hop community and remind people about what actually matters. On “Fuck Your Ethnicity,” the opening track to his LP Section.80, Lamar makes a powerful statement about racial identity. With tastefully soulful female vocals, piano key flourishes, and a memorable chorus as support, he spits rhyme after rhyme of stimulating and thought-provoking lyrics calling for social responsibility. 2011 was a year where a lot of rappers made it big riding on a wave of controversy, but unlike them, listening to Kendrick Lamar actually makes me feel like a good person.

18. The Decemberists - “Calamity Song”

The Decemberists apparently wrote “Calamity Song” in the midst of the 2008 United States presidential election as a criticism of the McCain/Palin ticket. Despite the alarming title, it would be pretty hard to guess the subject matter solely based on Colin Meloy’s verbose lyrics, but in retrospect it makes a lot of sense. “The Panamanian Child?” That’s John McCain, born on an American military base in Panama. Meloy’s indictment of Palin is a little harder to catch, although he seems not to think so — “Hetty Green, queen of supply side bonhomie bonedrab / You know what I mean?” Well, spend a few minutes analyzing that line with a dictionary and you might. “Calamity Song” wasn’t recorded until it appeared on this year’s The King Is Dead, but its calamitous lyrics seem just as relevant now than ever.

17. Ramshackle Glory - “Your Heart Is A Muscle The Size Of Your Fist”

Pat The Bunny entered into Hell and somehow came out better than he’s ever been. With his new band Ramshackle Glory, Pat wrote and recorded a collection of new songs about overcoming his heroin addiction, displaying a newfound sense of optimism for the future that was entirely absent in any of his previous work. “Your Heart Is A Muscle The Size Of Your Fist” is the best documentation of this profound change. It’s a folk punk song that stands with the best of them — An unrelenting powerhouse of solidarity and hope that, despite its personal lyrics, resonates on a universal level. Pat The Bunny has never written a better song. 

16. La Dispute - “King Park”

Although it’s only been out for a few months, “King Park’s” lyric sheet has already proven to be fodder for the lyric image-hungry tumblr hXc populace. Don’t let those ridiculous image macros influence your appreciation for the song, though. When “King Park” is removed from that context, it’s a chillingly powerful and serious piece of music. With his crazed, urgent voice, frontman Jordan Dreyer tells the story of an accidental shooting of an innocent child, playing the role of the silent observer as he describes how the family and town reacts, and how the killer himself is eventually found. It all builds up to the incredible climax, in which the killer is confronted by police, only to let out a desperate line for the ages: “Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?” Put that on your image macro.

15. The Guru - “Arizona”

“Arizona” isn’t the best song overall on Native Sun, the debut full length from Connecticut kids The Guru, but it stands alone better than any of the others. “Arizona” is a singular declaration of intent — a manifesto of youth and post-adolescence that ranks up there with classics such as The Who’s ”My Generation” and, more recently, Titus Andronicus’ “Titus Andronicus.” It’s a song that I screamed the words to in packed rooms on many occasions throughout the past year, and a song that I hope to scream again one day soon when the band comes back to Connecticut. Most of all, Arizona is a song that reminds me of what matters in my life. “I swear to grow old,” singer Eddie Golden shouts. It’s got to happen some time.

14. Real Estate - “It’s Real”

Real Estate did a lot of growing up in the past two years, and this is what they have to show for it. “It’s Real” is a perfect single that displays everything the band does well: It’s got jangly, reverb-heavy guitars, a soothing bassline, precise percussion, catchy melodies, moving harmonies, and earnest lyrics. Sure, it could have been an early R.E.M. song or a Feelies song, but it wasn’t. “It’s Real” is 100% Real Estate, right down to the name, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

13. Beastie Boys - “Make Some Noise”

Okay, I’m pretty sure we can all agree that the return of the Beastie Boys was easily the most badass comeback of the year. Hot Sauce Committee Pt 2 was extremely fun to listen to from the get go, and continues to be rewarding months later. Lead single “Make Some Noise” is definitely the best part of the record, and stands out just fine by itself for what it is. Ad-Rock, MCA, and Mike D spit nonsensical, hilarious rhymes over the squelching beat, at times rapping over straight feedback and just generally not giving a fuck and a great time. Line of the year goes to Mike D: “Pass me the scalpel, I’ll make an incision / And cut out the part of your brain that does the bitchin’.”

12. Bon Iver - “Perth”

Back in March, before the release of Bon Iver’s now-hugely successful Bon Iver, Bon Iver, Justin Vernon previewed some of the songs from the album to Rolling Stone. He called the opening track “Perth” a “Civil War-sounding heavy metal song,” which kind of fits in retrospect. If there was any one moment on the new record where Bon Iver shed the “folksy”, “wood cabin” image that it had assumed since 2008, it was right when the massive sounding double bass drum hits came in on ”Perth” for the first time. Exactly right there is when I knew that Bon Iver, Bon Iver was going to be something big. It turns out that I was right, and more so than I could have possibly known at the time.

11. Giles Corey - “Spectral Bride”

Dan Barrett (a.k.a. Giles Corey) makes soul-crushingly depressing songs in such a way that the listener often doesn’t realize how depressing they are until it’s far too late. “Spectral Bride” begins with Barrett strumming a guitar, as many of the songs on Giles Corey do, and singing with multi-tracked vocals, creating the effect of a large choir. The melody sounds like something out of a gospel song, and with Barrett’s harmonizing vocals singing it, the song is actually quite beautiful. At face level, “Spectral Bride” is really quite sweet — Barrett is declaring his love to someone whom he obviously cares about a lot. But as the song reaches critical mass, and the instrumentation swells to a crescendo, the true motivations for the song become clear. Anything that might have been construed as plainly pretty or simply romantic now take on a darker meaning as the listener realizes that Barrett is not just calling out to a lover, but is instead revealing to that person his desire to kill himself. “And if I don’t survive, I’ll still be by your side,” the Barrett choir sings, as horns and heavy drums are added to the mix. This line becomes a mantra in the second half, almost as if Barrett is trying to convince himself of its truth more than his lover.

10. The National - “Think You Can Wait” (feat. Sharon Van Etten)

Both The National and Sharon Van Etten came off a big year in 2010, a year in which they both had career-defining records that received a lot of critical praise. In this way, it’s fitting that the two acts, who are separately known for their unique songwriting and their atmospheric recordings, collaborated musically in 2011. The result of this collaboration is “Think You Can Wait,” released as a single by The National earlier in the year. It’s a slow burning, keyboard led number that follows The National’s established songwriting formula with its series of restrained, subtle crescendos. Frontman Matt Berninger’s lead vocals are absolutely melting, while Van Etten’s backing vocal contributions in the chorus contrast with his perfectly. It’s a beautifully sad storm of uncertainty, and it begs for more collaboration between these two musical forces.

9. Drake - “Marvins Room”

I was never a Drake fan when he first blew up a couple years ago, but that all changed dramatically when “Marvins Room” dropped in the beginning of the summer. With this one song, the Toronto rapper singlehandedly nailed the aesthetic that had been slowly developing for the past year with the work of artists like The Weeknd and How To Dress Well. “Marvins Room” finds harmony between the swagger and excess of mainstream pop rap R&B, and the moody, down-tempo emotionalism that singer/songwriters with acoustic guitars and lonely electronic music producers have been channeling for decades. With its confessional lyrics and testy subject matter, it was an incredibly bold statement to make, especially in advance of an album as big as Take Care. Although the full album did not entirely build on the creative success of “Marvins Room,” the song works in its own context even better.

8. Low - “Try To Sleep”

I’m so happy Low went back to making music that is pretty. Their past two efforts prior to 2011’s C’mon were heavy on experimentation, but not particularly thick with substance or simple beauty. “Try To Sleep” is C’mon’s opening track, and it is perhaps the single prettiest song that the Duluth, Minnesota slowcore band has ever released over their lengthy career. With its toy piano twinkles and characteristically lush haromonies, “Try To Sleep” was so pretty that the band managed to enlist John Stamos (yes, that John Stamos) to star in a video for it. The video, which features Stamos and a woman sitting in a car in front of a screen on which moving images of a countryside road are projected, perfectly captures the tone of the song: Beautiful and eye-opening, but ultimately very sad. 

7. House of Wolves - “50’s”

The past four entries on this list have all been moody, melancholic, and rather sad songs. I guess I have a type, because “50’s” is no different. On the first track to his debut album Fold In The Wind, House Of Wolves singer/songwriter Rey Villalobos captures a cracked and fleeting feeling of nostalgia for a bygone era, an era which neither I nor Villalobos himself ever experienced. “Kiss me like it’s the 50’s,” he sings, in his inflated falsetto, beckoning to an unnamed lover. Sadly, the person he’s calling out to seems just as far removed from the present time and space as the era that Villalobos is trying to evoke. With its glacial speed and gentle, sweetly layered instrumentation, “50’s” is a sad parade indeed, but one that is worth watching run its course. 

6. Gang Gang Dance - “Glass Jar”

“I can hear everything. It’s everything time.”

Gang Gang Dance’s stellar new album Eye Contact opens with that simple statement, spoken in the first five seconds of the opening track “Glass Jar.” In the subsequent 11 minutes, Gang Gang Dance unfolds a stunning sonic portrayal of the birth and evolution of life. There’s no death represented here — That’s for the rest of the album to deal with — just an uncompromisingly vivacious and organic declaration of the wonders of existence. In the first half, churning synths bubble up through cracks in “Glass Jar’s” surface while atmospheric effects flit about through the speakers. But don’t let the six minute ambient/new age intro fool you; In its second half, “Glass Jar” explodes with powerful rhythms, psychedelic vocals, and an infectious repeated synth line, displaying some remarkably catchy pop attributes. Enlightenment and nirvana comes with the tapping of a foot.

5. Destroyer - “Kaputt”

Forget for a second everything you know about culture and nostalgia for the 80s, and just play this song. Disco beats, hi-fi production, and saxophone licks don’t have to be bad if you forget everything bad that you ever listened to that sounded like that. In the 6 minutes and 18 seconds of “Kaputt,” the title track from Destroyer’s new LP, Dan Bejar and his arsenal of supporting musicians and vocalists redeem the 80s pop aesthetic and give it a new purpose and feeling of life, all while making every other 80’s-referential 2011 band seem totally useless and insignificant. Just as I did when I first heard it at the beginning of the year, I still hope that “Kaputt” kills 80’s nostalgia, but I think that even if it does, I’ll still be listening to the song and getting nostalgic. 

4. The Rapture - “How Deep Is Your Love?”

I’ll just get this out of the way right now and admit that yes, that the chorus of my fourth favorite song from 2011 sounds exactly like “The Thong Song.” Now that I’ve dealt with that, let’s take a moment to think about just how much of a banger “How Deep Is Your Love?” is. Are there clubs that play The Rapture anymore? Did clubs ever play The Rapture? If I were in charge of a club, I would just play “How Deep Is Your Love?” over and over again and everyone would love it. Although In The Grace Of Your Love is a good album in its own right, this song alone justified The Rapture’s comeback completely. Now I’m going to listen to it again. 

3. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - “I Will Be Okay. Everything”

On “I Will Be Okay. Everything,” The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die distilled everything that I love about them into one fantastic four minute track. The communal vibe of Formlessness is here, represented in the opening line, “No, we aren’t ghosts, ‘cause even ghosts have a home to haunt.” The aggressive urgency of Josh Is Dead is here too, conveyed by the song’s electrifying final movement. But more than anything else, I love “I Will Be Okay” because of how it differs from their previous material. The song displays a songwriting confidence previously unseen from the Connecticut band, with the three vocalists all contributing their own distinctive lyrics and singing in perfect literal and figurative harmony. The production and musicianship has also dramatically improved, as the band plays tightly and with tremendous conviction on “I Will Be Okay. Everything” The result shows that the whole is better than the individual parts, and that the forces controlling The World Is… are a great match for each other. 

2. Andrew Jackson Jihad - “Big Bird”

I’ve always admired Andrew Jackson Jihad for their minimalism. Minimalistic folk instrumentation, minimalistic song lengths, minimalistic chord progressions…. The band has always been good at getting a lot out of relatively little, and it’s paid off for them. However, I never considered what the band would be capable of if they went the opposite route. “Big Bird” is the last song on Andrew Jackson Jihad’s new record Knife Man, the culmination of experimentation and a tremendous exercise in self-exploration for singer/songwriter Sean Bonnette. It’s the complete reverse of their established formula of skittery punk folk, trading minimalism for maximalism, high speed for dirge-like slowness, and clever lyrical witticisms for crushingly emotional declarations. Bonnette lists his fears like he’s reading from a grocery list, adding emotional weight that is emphasized by the heavy instrumentation. Organs, strings electric guitars, and massive percussion fall on the listener with every subsequent line, building to a moving emotional head when Bonnette references the city that he calls home, Phoenix Arizona. “But the big red bird that lives under the city doesn’t give a damn about me and it dies every night / By burning alive.” The band has come a long way from Candy Cigarettes and Cap Guns, and the future is looking amazing. 

1. The Antlers - “Putting The Dog To Sleep”

“Prove to me I’m not gonna die alone”

We all have our own individual insecurities. Everyone has his or her own fears, and some people have more than others. Nothing is truly terrifying in a universal sense, but one particular notion comes close. The Antlers frontman Peter Silberman recognizes how much humans fear dying alone, and in that one line (along with its subsequent repetitions), he provokes an emotional response that is somehow even more significant and immediate than all of Hospice was. While Hospice provided a needle-like injection of extremely potent depression and sorrow into the arms of so many of its listeners, the Burst Apart closer “Putting The Dog To Sleep” speaks to a more general, farther-reaching feeling of pain. It’s the human condition in song form, conveyed as a 1950s-style doo wop piece having been run through Silberman’s aching vocals and the band’s wash of reverb and electronics. The band takes its time in building up to that powerful opening line, but once it arrives, it’s an incredibly cathartic release. That first guitar chord punches you in the gut hard enough to make you forget the lyrical subtleties of the song, but by the second verse, Silberman is back on his desperate, yearning track. By the end, it seems that he has proven whatever he was seeking to himself. Or perhaps, like Dan Barrett on “Spectral Bride” earlier, he is simply trying to prove that he is proving it to himself. “Put your trust in me,” Silberman sings, calling out once more to his unnamed target, “I’m not gonna die alone. I don’t think so.” If anything has the power to prevent that from happening, it’s this song. 

Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 11/18/11

Here’s the complete playlist from Friday’s broadcast of my radio show Left of the Dial on WNHU. Thank you to everybody who tuned in. I’m going away to see my family in Maryland (ugh) for Thanksgiving, which means that the next broadcast will not be next Friday, but the Friday after that. So be sure to tune in on Friday, December 2nd for the next live broadcast of Left of the Dial!

• 1. The Clash - “Janie Jones”
• 2. Cap’n Jazz - “Planet Shhh”
• 3. Black Flag - “Jealous Again”
• 4. Minutemen - “Corona”
• 5. OFF! - “Poison City”
• 6. Girls - “Honey Bunny”
• 7. Into It. Over It. - “Discretion & Depressing People”
• 8. Snowing - “Methuselah Rookie Card”
• 9. Grown Ups - “Six More Weeks Of Winter”
• 10. Connecticut - “Intro/The Motherland”
• 11. Refused - “The Deadly Rhythm”
• 12. Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) - “Everything Is Connected and Everything Matters (A Temporary Solution to a Permanent Problem)”
• 13. Co-Pilots - “Shut Up, Be Happy”
• 14. peaer - “sheets”
• 15. The Mountain Goats - “Quito”
• 16. The Replacements - “Sixteen Blue”
• 17. Midi & The Modern Dance - “I’m Sure You’ll Call”
• 18. Los Campesinos! - “Hello Sadness”
• 19. The Antlers - “VCR” (The xx cover)
• 20. The Cure - “Plainsong”
• 21. Red House Painters - “Dragonflies”
• 22. The Postal Service - “Recycled Air”
• 23. Radiohead - “Just” (Live) (Just (For College) EP version)
• 24. Real Estate - “It’s Real”
• 25. Giles Corey - “Spectral Bride”
• 26. Kid Dakota - “Crossin’ Fingers”
• 27. Titus Andronicus - “No Future Part Two: The Days After No Future”
• 28. R.E.M. - “We All Go Back To Where We Belong”

Giles Corey - Giles Corey (2011)

I’ve been purposefully avoiding reviewing this album for months for a number of a reasons. As excited as I was to get my thoughts about this record down into words after my first couple listens, I knew that I would not be able to describe the emotions contained within it in the way that it demands. I also knew that I would need time, effort, and a large number of serious, devoted listening sessions in order to fully understand the album. Even now, months later, I worry that I may still not have completely gotten the message. Despite the wavering uncertainty with which I am constantly forced to approach this record, there are some things about Giles Corey that I am absolutely sure of. For one thing, the sounds that are comprised by this album are among the most miserable and uncompromisingly sorrowful noises that my ears have ever borne witness to. I knew this was the case when I first heard the album, and it remains true to this day. 

If you’re familiar with Giles Corey at all, you probably know the backstory here. At some point in 2009, singer/songwriter Dan Barrett (best known as one half of the black metal-influenced shoegaze band Have A Nice Life) attempted suicide. Although he had started Giles Corey before that, the project developed as a way for Barrett to catalog and diarize his thoughts and experiences after his close brush with death. The self-titled debut album of this project was released in late April of this year, having been in the works for nearly four years. Giles Corey is the consummation of Barrett’s long-standing misery and nearly unbearable depression, and although the record’s concept is labyrinthine and mysterious, these themes are conveyed directly in its atmosphere and tone, as well as in its lyrics. 

Because the record clocks in at nearly an hour in length, the nine songs on Giles Corey are predominantly lengthy, sustaining their soul-crushing sound over running times that often exceed 6 minutes. Most of the songs follow one of two distinct formulas that Barrett employs on the record. Most of the highlights begin as quiet elegies, often featuring only Barrett and his acoustic guitar, and build up over time to breathtaking crescendos will full instrumentation. For example, the opening track “The Haunting Presence” starts with Barrett’s chilling voice delivering a mournful eulogy for Giles Corey himself, who was pressed to death during the Salem Witch Trials for failing to admit either his guilt or innocence. As Barrett sings over the sparse and repetitive piano arrangement, an unshakable sense of dread comes over the piece. Soon after that, he adds in multi-tracked harmonies of his own voice, a technique which he uses to a great extent on Giles Corey. Within minutes, the song explodes into a terrifying storm of voices sounding as though they had just been let been let out of Pandora’s box. The last two minutes feature the sounds of Barrett sitting at his piano, pounding the keys as he cries and screams indecipherable moans into a cheap tape recorder. According to the liner notes that accompany the CD version of Giles Corey, this segment was recorded while Barrett was wearing what he refers to as “the Voor’s Head Device” — a black plastic bag covered with a fabric bag tied at the neck with a rope that is just loose enough for the wearer to maintain consciousness. Even without this added knowledge, “The Haunting Presence” is a genuinely frightening piece of music at face value, and it’s in good company on the album.

A number of the other standout tracks follow this formula. “Blackest Bile” is initially striking in how subdued it feels, but Barrett’s strumming and humming soon take on a darker tone as the listener realizes the implications of such a relaxed sound on this overwhelmingly depressing album — It’s the sound of a man entirely sure of and comfortable with his intentions to end his life. By the time this realization occurs, it’s already too late — Dark, reverb-heavy percussion and layered orchestral instrumentation are added to the arrangement, and any semblance of hope disappears. Later on, “Grave Filled With Books” begins again with just Barrett’s guitar and lofty voice, but quickly swells into a lush, full piece complete with gospel-influenced vocal harmonies. It sounds like he’s singing at his own funeral. The album’s biggest highlight comes in the middle, in the form of an album centerpiece called “Spectral Bride” that again follows this crescendo-based formula. It begins with a choir of ghostly, multi-tracked Barretts singing over a bright sounding acoustic guitar, and proceeds to build and build upon itself over its 7 minute duration until it reaches its glorious climax. Massive sounding drums, keyboards, and horns all come in, along with more harmonizing vocals, all building up to the tears-inducing chorus. “And if I don’t survive, I’ll still be by your side,” he sings, “Just clad in ghostly white, I’ll be your spectral bride.” I think it’s safe to say that it’s the most emotional moment that I’ve heard on a 2011 record.

Most of the remaining songs serve as bridge points between these well-defined standout tracks, and are often more experimental in terms of song structure and arrangement. “Empty Churches” features a remarkably eerie vocal sample about mysterious “voices of unknown origin” being detected by radio operators during the 1940s. The sample extends throughout most of the song’s duration, and Barrett creates deep instrumental atmospheres underneath to intensify the mood that it procures. The subsequent track “I’m Going To Do It” conjures disturbing and uncertain feelings with its hazy sonic palette, forming a stark contrast with the hushed but frighteningly sure sounding lyrics. Although the lyrics are not exactly subtle (what did you think a song called “I’m Going To Do It” was going to be about anyway?) they are incredibly powerful nonetheless. 

“No One Is Every Going To Want Me” begins in that same amorphous form, but eventually experiences a radical change in dynamic as it congeals into a propulsive and high energy fuzz folk song. The turbulence that the song undertakes, and the speed with which it changes shape help emphasize the dark and dramatic nature of the subject matter. 

But not only is Giles Corey about suicidal depression; it’s a downright depressant in and of itself. One of the reasons that I didn’t want to review the album back when I first heard it was that I thought its effect would be more powerful as the weather got colder, and now that winter is approaching and we’ve already had a major snowfall here in Connecticut, I can say that that is true. Nevertheless, even when I was listening to it on warm days during the summer, the music still made me feel as cold and desolate as I ever have. My most profound (and potentially damaging) experience listening to Giles Corey came in August, when I went out into a flash flood with my headphones and a raincoat and explored the park and river near my house. As I stood on the wooden bridge overlooking the swelling river and listening to this record, I was overcome by an intense feeling of utter meaninglessness and insignificance in the world. Despite how personal Giles Corey is, there is something about this music that taps into a universal human notion of suffering and pain. 

On that day during the summer I felt it, and I’m sure that as the snowfalls start to become more frequent here in Connecticut, where Dan Barrett and I both coincidentally live, I will feel that intensity again. In some ways, I fear the coming of that time, but I know that I will be able to appreciate the record all the more for it. Hearing Barrett’s heart-rending and unflinchingly honest lyrics in the context in which he presents them produces an emotional reaction from me that very few other pieces of art have. Maybe it says more about me than it does about Giles Corey, but I would rather let myself slip into the uncertain whirlpool of depression under the influence of a beautiful, near-perfect work of art than by my own selfish mistakes or by any other external influences on me. If Giles Corey is going to be the record that sends me to wherever Barrett was, I wouldn’t want it any other way. 

And yet, maybe it doesn’t have to be. On Enemies List’s artist page for Giles Corey, the artist bio describes that Barrett used Giles Corey after his suicide attempt “to search through any and every piece of written word that he could find to determine if life were worth living.” Although the overwhelming majority of the Giles Corey record would suggest that it wasn’t, there is one moment in particular that suggests otherwise. After the massive, lurching “No One Is Ever Going To Want Me” comes a much more subtle and lucid song. The plaintive, pining ballad “A Sleeping Heart” is Giles Corey’s one moment of hopeful tranquility — a calmness in the midst of a raging storm of hopelessness. At only three and a half minutes, it is dwarfed in length by the album’s other songs, but it is even more powerful because its simplicity. It’s not exactly happy (the song begins, “If I die, and I will…”), but it finds Barrett for once putting someone else before his own issues. The sweet and even romantic yearning that he expresses in the song is almost powerful enough to reverse the misery and sorrow of the preceding 45 minutes, and if “A Sleeping Heart” were the closing track, I would argue that Barrett found a reason to live through his Giles Corey project after all.

Sadly, it isn’t. It is a most crushing realization to experience such a lovely and uninterrupted moment of hope, only to see it swallowed up in the very same storm of which it was wrenched free. The final track, “Buried Above Ground”, even sounds like a storm as it slowly swells and tosses itself with dissonant strings and distant horns in its lengthy instrumental intro. By the time the vocals finally come in towards the end of the song, they arrive echoing the same lyric that made the opening track so chilling: “There’s a devil on my back.”

I wish I could say that writing about Giles Corey has helped me come to terms with the record more, but in retrospect it has only made me more uncertain about it. I’ve already written nearly 2000 words on the subject, and I feel as though I could write at least 2000 more. What I can tell after digging into Giles Corey as deeply as I have tonight and for the past six months is that this record is mentally provocative in a way that very few other albums I’ve heard are. I believe that this alone warrants a listen from anyone who reads this review. The rating below this paragraph is rather insignificant in this light, but I’ve left it there for those of you who like seeing numbers. If a high score will convince you to buy or listen to this incredibly important record, then it’s my duty to give it a high score. 

9/10

Key Tracks: “The Haunting Presence”, “Blackest Bile”, “Spectral Bride”

Giles Corey is available for purchase on CD from Enemies List Home Recordings. It is listed at $25, and includes a 150 page book written by Dan Barrett to accompany the recording.

Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 9/30/11

Here’s the playlist from last night’s live broadcast of my radio show Left of the Dial on WNHU. This was a fun show with a lot of great new stuff. Thanks to everyone who suggested new music for me to listen to over this past week! Check out the playlist below, with links to each song when I could find them. 

• 1. The Feelies - “The High Road”
• 2. R.E.M. - “Pretty Persuasion”
• 3. Real Estate - “It’s Real”
• 4. By Surprise - “Mostly Harmless”
• 5. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - “Bread For Brett”
• 6. YRRS - “Stain”
• 7. Wavves - “Nodding Off” (feat. Best Coast)
• 8. Year In Review - “Same Sad Song”
• 9. Digging Up Virgins - “Annelise”
• 10. Weezer - “I Just Threw Out The Love Of My Dreams”
• 11. Bright Eyes - “Touch”
• 12. Snowing - “Methuselah Rookie Card”
• 13. The Helveticas - “Wish Love Was This Easy”
• 14. Astronautalis - “Skeleton (Everybody’s Favorite)”
• 15. WHY? - “Crushed Bones”
• 16. Radiohead - “Little By Little”
• 17. Settler - “You’re Harpin’ On It!”
• 18. Powder! Go Away - “13.125 Miles Exploded By Hundred Oscillators”
• 19. Into It. Over It. - “Where Your Nights Often End”
• 20. Hostage Calm - “Where The Waters Call Home”
• 21. House of Wolves - “50’s”
• 22. Man Man - “Van Helsing Boombox”
• 23. Defiance, Ohio - “Bikes and Bridges”
• 24. The Middle East - “Jesus Came To My Birthday Party”
• 25. Sufjan Stevens - “All The Trees Of The Field Will Clap Their Hands”
• 26. Sinforiano Diaz - “06331”
• 27. The Mountain Goats -“Onions”
• 28. Giles Corey - “Grave Filled With Books”
• 29. Perfume Genius - “Lookout, Lookout”
• 30. Erik Satie - “Gymnopédie No. 2”

Tune into WNHU again next Friday from 6 to 8 PM Eastern time for another live broadcast!

Left of the Dial Radio Playlist - 9/16/11

Below is the playlist from Friday night’s Left of the Dial radio show, which aired from 6 to 8 PM Eastern time on WNHU. Next Friday I’m going to be playing a show at my school, which means that I won’t be doing my radio show. Remember to tune in the week after that though.

• 1. The Antlers - “Kettering”
• 2. Midi & The Modern Dance - “Ghost”
• 3. Bright Eyes - “The Calendar Hung Itself”
• 4. Suns - “Casual”
• 5. WHY? - “Light Leaves”
• 6. Giles Corey - “Blackest Bile”
• 7. Carissa’s Wierd - “September Come Take This Heart Away”
• 8. Modest Mouse - “Cowboy Dan”
• 9. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - “Mega Steve”
• 10. Slint - “Nosferatu Man”
• 11. Liturgy - “Returner”
• 12. Cymbals Eat Guitars - “Plainclothes”
• 13. Snowing - “KJ Jammin”
• 14. Ovlov - “I Got Well”
• 15. Rites of Spring - “Nudes”
• 16. The Replacements - “We’re Comin’ Out”
• 17. Hostage Calm - “War On A Feeling”
• 18. Girls - “Saying I Love You”
• 19. The War On Drugs - “Come To The City”
• 20. Sigur Ros - “Untitled #4”
• 21. Idaho - “You Were A Dick”
• 22. Morrissey - “I’m Not Sorry”
• 23. Andrew Jackson Jihad - “Big Bird”
• 24. Neutral Milk Hotel - “Ferris Wheel On Fire”
• 25. Sharon Van Etten - “Love More”
• 26. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - “To The Janitor, To The King”
• 27. The Smiths - “Oscillate Wildly”