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Ohmpark’s Top 50 Albums of 2010

Years and decades are fairly arbitrary lines in time, but it’s interesting how things can be so easily organized in this way. Maybe it’s coincidence, maybe we can find a narrative in anything, or maybe there is something else at work. But in terms of the history of music, 2010 was very much the beginning of a new chapter. The ’00s could be characterized as the slow ascent of indie music propelled by how the Internet changed everything. But in 2010, I get the sense that the influence of both indie and the Internet has reached its limit and now the oversaturation of those influences is pushing things in an entirely different trajectory. Of course, indie/Internet/blog music is still not exactly mainstream; there are plenty of genres that are more popular. But it has grown large enough to reach that point every popularized genre arrives at when it starts to cannibalize itself and embrace its own clichés, well on the road to becoming a parody of itself like hip-hop and country currently are. I started to worry this was happening at the end of 2008, but then the anomaly that was 2009 came along and my pessimism waned. But looking back now, so many incredible, transcendent records just happened to converge in 2009 to cap off the decade, and this year lacked last year’s breadth of records that could both capture a wide audience and demonstrate an authentic, artistic vision. There were certainly some, but in terms of what was most widely praised in the indie world, for the most part 2010 was unimaginative and derivative.

Now it would be easy to just write this off as simply the cyclical nature of genres rising and falling in pop music–things get popular and then they start to suck. And that’s definitely part of it. But there’s something cultural at work as well. For someone who is, say, twenty years old right now and living in the United States, the backdrop to growing up has been 911, eight years of Bush disasters and wars capped off by a few years of a horrible economy and government dysfunction. Politics and the news have been beseiged by an intangible turmoil for a decade now, and it’s hard to ignore how this has affected the psyche of people growing up in this environment, even if those people are apathetic to these phenomenons. And really, If anything, these events have helped bolster the apathy of the youth for the world around them; this generation has a strong desire (which some may describe as a sense of entitlement) to skip all the bullshit and just be happy. And this isn’t just about politics. As technology continues moving ahead at an unyielding pace, not everyone adapts to the change and embraces it. Globalization and the ever increasing complexity of the world around us can create a yearning to return to a simpler time. There is an anxiety about the current state of things, and this can help establish a feeling of nostalgia for the past, when times were perceived to be better. And that yearning for the past and simplicity has pervaded the fashions of music. Everything popular now is lo-fi or rips offs of styles decades old. Many people want to write off the 2 year running chillwave fad as just a blip, but it’s really a telltale sign of what’s happening across all of music, the convergence of all of these trends. It’s the ultimate escapism into simplicity and nostalgia, and that is what 2010 in music has been all about.

There are other cultural threads that push music in this direction as well. The reality TV/American Idol culture has ended up permeating into indie as much as indie has permeated the mainstream, if not more. People seem to only care about celebrity and gimmicks. More people are interested in Best Coast‘s cat than in discovering musicians who are actually innovating things. And now that technology has shattered the bar to entry and enabled anyone, no matter what level of talent, to be able to create music, working at one’s craft has become increasingly irrelevant. A talented producer can make just about anyone sound good in a certain manner. And the sort of music that is popular now doesn’t require very much effort to make anyway. Technology, specifically enabling anyone to be able to download anything for free, has shifted the way people listen to music. When you could only afford to buy so many records, people spent a lot more time with their music, and that benefited music that had a lot of depth, carefully crafted records. Now people blow through as much music as fast as possible, so the sort of music that people celebrate is the kind that catches one’s ears right away, even if there is nothing to it beyond the surface.

In just about every way, music has become more about style than substance. The artists who were successful this year by and large achieved success by means that had absolutely nothing to do with the merits of their art. It was all about back-stories, connections, cashing in on trends, hiring the right publicists, being friends with the right people, being hyped by the right blogs, etc. Sure, some of those successful artists happened to make some good music, but that’s not why they became successful. The environment has also has become one where artists are punished and marginalized for taking risks. Three great examples in 2010 are Sufjan Stevens, Yeasayer, and MGMT. I may not equally love all three of these records, but I respect the artistic choices they made, and while each has a small but fanatical cheering section, none of these were well received overall. Instead, boring, predictable, easily-marketable, overly-derivative, watered-down drivel ruled supreme.

I think it’s also important to note that 2010 showcased the most centralized music media since the ’90s. Where the ’00′s were all about de-centralizing music media because websites and blogs popped up everywhere and created infinite choice, now there is simply too much information out there for anyone to make sense of it. You see, the truth is that most people want to be told what to listen to and not have to do the hard work of finding it themselves. Other than us music nerds, most of which have our own blog, people don’t have the time to search across website after website looking for something new. So people have now migrated to fewer and fewer locations to find what they want. In the indie world, that means the aggregators, Pitchfork, which lines their content up with what’s popular on the aggregators, and the handful of superblogs that are now under Pitchfork’s payroll. The few music journalism institutions that still make money are only interested in making more of it and expanding their audience. And that can only be done in two ways once you have already captured a significant audience. Either create content that is so good that it transcends the topic of the content, which is hard, or just pick topics that are the most popular within the realm of relevant topics the institution can discuss, aka the SEO strategy, which is much easier. That’s why you see Pitchfork give Kanye West‘s newest record a 10.0 and why Creative Loafing pretends Justin Beiber is part of the Atlanta music scene. Why go to the effort of creating interesting content when you can just reference celebrities and get tons of attention? I mean, you can’t really blame them, because they’re just giving people what they want. In the longterm, the Internet didn’t really change the nature of music journalism at all, only the structure. It created a temporary anarchy and changing of the guard, but we’re long past that point now. The professional music media is back to being nothing more than celebrity gossip reporting of another flavour.

Now, all of the trends I’ve described above don’t necessarily make me excited about the state of things. Simplicity, nostalgia, and commercial viability aren’t exactly on the top of my list of what I look for in music. But from my perspective, I can’t be pessimistic about it either. What I’ve been describing so far is about trends and what is popular, but that doesn’t at all speak to the sheer amount of quality, artistic music that is still being produced every second across the world. For someone who is willing to dig deep, there is an endless supply of music for anyone’s taste. And so really, it’s still a great time in the history of music for everyone, except artists taking chances and hoping to make a living from their music, and there’s still even a small chance to breakthrough that way if you’re really lucky. So what’s popular is starting to suck, but that’s okay because the underground is as fertile as it’s ever been. If I was going to parallel 2010 to any other recent year, I guess 1998 would probably be the most appropriate. Trends aren’t looking so hot and that doesn’t look to change very quickly, but there’s plenty of incredible music if you know where to find it. And ultimately trends come and go, and things are always in a state of flux, so there’s no telling what could happen in the years ahead.

Finally, here’s the fifty records I enjoyed most over the course of this year. If there’s anything on here you haven’t heard, I’d recommend picking up a copy right away:




50. CocoRosie : Grey Oceans




49. Pomegranates : One of Us




48. Gayngs : Relayted




47. Venice Is Sinking : Sand & Lines: The Georgia Theatre Sessions May 20th 24th, 2008




46. Daft Punk : Tron Legacy




45. Twin Shadow : Forget




44. Yeasayer : Odd Blood




43. Lower Dens : Twin-Hand Movement




42. No Age : Everything In Between




41. The Besnard Lakes : The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night




40. Typhoon : Hunger and Thirst




39.Jungol : Over The Sun And Under The Radar




38. Big Boi : Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty




37. Blonde Redhead : Penny Sparkle




36. Bambara : Dog Ear Days




35. Teen Daze : Four More Years




34. Tu Fawning : Hearts On Hold




33. The Back Pockets : Blissters N Basements




32. Candy Claws : Hidden Lands




31. Suuns : Zeroes QC




30. Sorry No Ferrari : Ternary




29. Zach Hill : Face Tat




28. Red Sea : Weird Problem




27. Nomen Novum : Go Primal




26. Flying Lotus : Cosmogramma




25. Of Montreal : False Priest




24. Qurious : Planet Plant




23. Oryx And Crake : Oryx + Crake




22. Emeralds : Does It Look Like I’m Here




21. Crystal Castles : Crystal Castles




20. Women : Public Strain




19. Wild Nothing : Gemini




18. Tame Impala : Innerspeaker




17. This Piano Plays Itself : As The House…




16. Joanna Newsom : Have One On Me




15. Avey Tare : Down There




14. Deerhunter : Halcyon Digest




13. Autolux : Transit Transit




12. Here We Go Magic : Pigeons




11. Land Of Talk : Cloak and Cipher




10. Janelle Monáe : The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)




9. Broken Social Scene : Forgiveness Rock Record




8. Living Rooms : House Kid




7. Local Natives : Gorilla Manor




6. Sufjan Stevens : The Age Of Adz




5. The Morning Benders : Big Echo




4. Owen Pallett : Heartland




3. Beach House : Teen Dream




2. Marnie Stern : Marnie Stern




1. Phantogram : Eyelid Movies

Atlanta Music Roundtable 2010 (Day 1, Part 2)

Back when I first started blogging, there were only a tiny handful of other local music bloggers, and there was definitely no sense of community between us. But in the four years since I launched this site, a second wave of ATL bloggers popped up, made up of many talented and interesting voices. So I was very excited when Denton from Little Advances proposed that we all join forces to put together one giant end-of-year blogathon. First, here are the other bloggers involved in this roundtable in case you aren’t familiar with them:

Denton from Little Advances
Rube from Atlanta’s A-List
Chuck from Dead Journalist
Moe from Latest Disgrace
Emily from Wholly Roller
Tim from I’m a Bear! Etc
Nadia from The Moon And Pluto

Our roundtable basically addressed a series of topics, including:

1. General discussion of the “Best of” music for the year, nationally and locally
2. Best live shows of 2010
3. Predictions of breakout artists in 2011
4. Lightning Round: one response from each blogger to a series of poll-like questions.

We are releasing the discussion in pieces among our different blogs for the rest of the week. Here is the schedule:

Monday 12/20 – Wholly Roller and Ohmpark

Tuesday 12/21 – Latest Disgrace and Atlanta’s A-List

Wednesday 12/22 – Little Advances and I’m a Bear! Etc

Thursday 12/23 – Dead Journalist and The Moon and Pluto


This morning Wholly Roller released the first part of the discussion, so before continuing along, please jump over there and read that first.

PART 2:

Emily:

The year got off to really promising start with Beach House’s Teen Dream and Local Natives’ Gorilla Manor. I completely fell in love with these albums the second I listened to them. Throughout the summer awesome releases from Free Energy, Titus Andronicus, Suckers, The Love Language, and Phantogram really proved themselves on the record player and in the venues. In fact, most of my favorite albums coincide with a tour that passed through Atlanta once or twice or in Free Energy’s case, four times. Repeatability and the live show have everything to do with how I feel about an album.

The surprise EP from Girls and the new releases from Reading Rainbow, Sun Airway, and Eternal Summers have really taken over my ears the last couple of weeks. This year just won’t give up.

Also, I can’t forget about the local lovelies that continue to make me swoon, which includes, but isn’t limited to Oryx and Crake, Roman Photos, Mermaids, Venice is Sinking, and Deerhunter. Speaking of Deerhunter, more specifically Bradford Cox, can we just take a moment to reflect on those four incredible demo albums he released on his blog? I’m pretty sure my Last.fm play count for Atlas Sound was through the roof that week. I can’t get enough. And what’s really insane is that some of those tracks were recorded and released the very next day. I’m going to have to agree with Tim, Bradford Cox for Atlanta music MVP. We are really lucky to have these amazing artists representing Atlanta. I feel like sometimes Atlanta’s hardworking rockers are overlooked. For those that say the scene here isn’t defined should definitely take a closer look.

I’d also like to mention the aid the internet has had in finding new and interesting music. Recently, I’ve been obsessed with Bandcamp and underground blogs that highlight those bedroom, garage rockers. Some gems I’ve found include Gauntlet Hair, Weed, Mutual Benefit, Waskerly Way, Hilly Eye, and Teen Daze. And that’s the short list.

This year has been insane. Absolutely insane, and very gracious. It’s overwhelming. And making sense of it all has been difficult, but very exciting.


Moe:

As it turns out, 2010 was a good year for music. Not great, not a game-changer, but a year filled with as many pockets of greatness as it had forgettable fads. Although I enjoyed moments of Washed Out and Small Black, I generally avoided the chillwave hysteria that consumed much of the blogosphere. And while I don’t harbor the bilious distaste that some critics have shown for Wavves and Best Coast, I can’t say that either record did anything for me. They just weren’t my thing.

As for the standout efforts, some of those have already been mentioned—Titus Andronicus, the National, Phantogram, Beach House—a list to which I have to add Future Islands, Arcade Fire and Les Savy Fav.

But for me, 2010 was also the year I got excited about labels again. Not the obvious players—Sub Pop, Merge, Matador, Fat Possum, etc.—but smaller imprints who are building their reputations one artist at a time and helping to foster a real sense of community. Just look at the year Sargent House had with a slew of terrific forward-thinking releases from Fang Island, Zach Hill, Native, Tera Melos, and Red Sparowes. Or how about Temporary Residence Limited delivering choice joints from the Books, Maserati, Coliseum and the Black Heart Procession? Heavy music also got a much needed jolt of inventive energy from the always reliable Hydra Head who churned out two of the year’s best records from Daughters and the Austerity Program, not to mention can’t-miss cuts from Torche and Athens sludge hounds, Harvey Milk.

And while we’re at it, can we give it up for some of indie rock’s elder statesmen? 2010 might have been a banner year for young, up-and-comers looking to shake things up, but we were also handed great— in some cases, groundbreaking—efforts from Grinderman, Killing Joke, and, especially, Swans. My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky is a thing of devastating beauty.

Locally, it was a solid year. I’m still looking and hoping for that one record that slaps me across the face and makes me think “Goddamn, I can’t wait to hear what this band is going to do next.” The Qurious LP and the Oryx and Crake debut came the closest, which is probably why we all seized upon it with such gusto. But there was also some good work from the likes of Hawks, Abby Go Go, Sealions, and Roman Photos. Maybe most surprising was the amount of quality rock output we received from Stickfigure and its offshoot, the Gospel of Rhythm Recordings, who gave us boisterous punk-fueled releases from All Night Drug Prowling Wolves and Authors Apology, as well as the blistering, complex instrumental jams of Sorry No Ferrari.

Looking forward, 2011 looks like it could catch fire quick with early releases expected from Whores and the reunited the Letters Organize. One thing’s for sure, I can’t wait to hear what happens.


Nadia:

I rang in the New Year of 2010 at the Band of Horses concert at The Tabernacle. That was an awesome night of music, and I feel like the year has followed suit with some great music from artists across the globe. Check Canada out! Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade, Owen Pallett, Women, Tegan and Sara, Crystal Castles and The New Pornographers have all put out some quality music this year. There’s always so much great music to come out of the UK. This year has been no different, with bands like XX, Foals, and Mumford and Sons making waves with new releases, and Florence and The Machine gaining a worldwide audience since her album came out last year. The band to start

the “British Invasion” has even made their entire catalog available through ITunes this year! And Icelandic genius, Jonsi, released a phenomenal album, the first of his efforts since Sigur Ros went on hiatus.

The players on home turf have also been outstanding this year. To avoid redundancy, I’ll agree with the artist choices of the previous bloggers (especially Fang Island and The National) and add a few: Yeasayer, The Henry Clay People, Of Montreal, Sleigh Bells, Sufjan Stevens, Ray LaMontagne, The Love Language, School of Seven Bells, Menomena, She & Him, and Interpol. MGMT’s newest has had a lot of mixed reviews, but I think it should be mentioned in the round up, because the album is a work of creative art, regardless of a reviewer’s bias.

But, the magic for me is at the local level. Atlanta has had such an active music community this year! The collective efforts of PurgeAtl, Hijacking Music, Nophi, and ISP have all gained so much momentum through their endurance supporting the local musicians and artists. The sheer number of music festivals this year; NoPhest, Earball, Barroco Festival, Other Sound, AC3 Hip Hop Festival, Strange Daze, Hijacking Music Festival, Edgewood Electronic Festival, the Nameless Goat Farm Festival, is an indication that the Atlanta music scene is thriving within every genre! The awesome art/music regular events, like Laserbeam Kitty, Rock Science Revival, and the art galleries such
as Picaflor, Mint, Beep Beep, Relapse, and Archive, have fostered artistic cooperation, as well as showcasing a variety of local musical talent. Of course, the non-profits, Eyedrum and Wonderoot also continue to encourage creative distinction. The fact that we’re engaged in this Year-End Blog-a-Thon together is yet another example of the music community unifying and strengthening in Atlanta.

2010 saw some impressive new releases from Atlanta artists, such as Sealions, Jungol, Oryx & Crake, Charges, Attention System, Sonen, Nomen Novum, Nerdkween, Blair Crimmins and The Hookers, Abby Go Go, Carnivores, Dropsonic, Sorry No Ferrari, Efren, Cassavetes, and A Fight to the Death. The Nophi Compilation 4 is another stand out achievement. Moe touched on the hometown labels, and I’ll add that Stickfigure and Double Phantom are representing Atlanta well. If this is how the new decade has begun, I can’t wait to see what’s in store in the coming years.


Rube:

Wow, I get the last word. That would be kind of cool but everybody else has covered so much ground, I don’t know what I can add. I will say I think that the possibility of a bloggers forum, this email string, and the willingness of all these passionate music listeners to collaborate, share, and discuss is the highlight of 2010 for me. If I could have dreamt an objective for the “A-List” (y’all know that’s a joke, right?), this would have been it. Denton, you did it!

What do I think of 2010? I think it was far better than last year. I think many records that did not even get considered for my top ten this year, might have cracked last year’s list. I also found myself paying so much attention to new “must hear” sounds that I neglected stalwarts like Wolf Parade and Ted Leo who came out with fine albums. Gosh, that Blitzen Trapper record is worth another listen too.

The local scene continues to turn out quality as well, even if it’s not always what the rest of the world gets to see and hear. Don’t get me wrong. I love Janelle and Cee-Lo and yes, Deerhunter certainly has become something to brag about, but there is so much more to share when old pals come to Dogwood City. More people outside of Georgia need to hear Sealions, Oryx & Crake, Ben Trickey, and Attention System. Four great examples of the diversity and quality of Atlanta’s music scene – that are not hip-hop or garage bands.

Some personal highlights of the year include being involved with the Oryx and Crake Decatur CD in-store, attending David Bazan’s house show and then listening to Andy Hull and Alex Brenner debate the state of the modern music biz in the hall afterwards, finally seeing Titus Andronicus at the EARL after they missed the 529 show due to van trouble, Pavement, and eating late night chili dogs at Manuel’s.

It’s been a great year and again, I’m delighted just to be along for the ride with this group. I look forward to the next question and will do my best to reply more quickly.


Look for part 3 at Latest Disgrace tomorrow.

Go ahead and jump over to Day 2, Part 3 at Latest Disgrace.

Ohmpark’s Top 20 Atlanta Albums of 2010

It’s hard to dispute that Atlanta’s music scene grows more vibrant and dynamic every year. I used to have to dig deep and work hard to discover new talents and hidden gems in this city, but now I can hardly keep up with every intriguing artist calling the ATL their home. Of course, this high water mark in independent pop music isn’t unique to Atlanta as there is an insane amount of great music being produced across the entire globe right now. But just about every factor you can think of that is contributing to this musical renaissance is tipping in Atlanta’s favour. Geographically, Atlanta is a lone metropolis in the heart of the southeast US, which gives us a much larger recruiting range than most American cities. Many of the more prominent musicians that now fly the Atlanta banner originally defected from south Georgia or Alabama or much farther away. And as more people flock here to pursue a musical career, it creates a positive feedback loop that continues making Atlanta a more attractive location to be a musician. From hip new places like 529 and The Goat Farm, to art spaces like Wonderroot and Eyedrum, to enduring institutions like The Earl and the Drunken Unicorn, to the new places that seem to be springing up everywhere, healthy competition between venues creates a demand for more talented performers to play those venues. Also, because Atlanta is such a transplant city, and one of the fastest growing cities in the US, there is an extremely diverse audience to capture. There isn’t a single style of music that couldn’t create a niche for itself here. Even the local blogging community now features so many different but relevant voices. No matter what direction you look, there is something cool going on. Atlanta’s only weakness may be that the perception of our city beyond the perimeter doesn’t necessarily match up with the reality, but the Internet renders the hurdles of location more irrelevant by the day. It used to be anyone in the suburbs that wanted to be taken seriously had to move down to eastside ITP and pretend it was their home, but now you can claim Perry, Suwanne, or whatever the hell you want, and it doesn’t make that much of a difference. I mean, sure, Brooklyn is the epicenter right now, and if you can do well there you have a good shot at becoming a national buzzband at the very least. But taking into consideration the cost of living and the numerous support systems to the scene, I can’t think of a better place outside of New York to be involved with music than Atlanta.

Since 2010′s class of local records ran so deep, this was a difficult list to compile. There are many albums which got edged out that would have ended up high on a list just a couple of years ago. I want to go ahead and shout out some honourable mentions to records I really liked that didn’t make the cut: Free Ticket‘s All Thumbs, Time Wharp‘s Helvetica, Lid Emba‘s Terminal Muse: Red, A Fight To The Death‘s Gesture of a Gentlemen, Magic Apron‘s The Purling Waters, Conspiracy‘s The Medium Is the Message, both of Jeffrey Bützer‘s releases (Wild Is The Wind Soundtrack and his collaboration with Claire Lodge, Past Wanstead Flats), the four Atlas Sound Bedroom Databank volumes, and the multitude of different releases by Roman Photos, including side projects like Warning Light and Feast of Violet. It’s ridiculous how much good stuff came out of Atlanta this year.

So without further blabbing, here’s the twenty local records that I enjoyed most in 2010. Feel free to discuss and/or complain.

(FYI, anything that comes out after this list was posted will be eligible for my 2011 list, and this list includes one release that came out at the end of 2009)




20. abby gogo : abby gogo




19. Sealions : Strange Veins




18. Soft Powers : Bad Pop




17. The N.E.C. : Is




16. Dååth : Dååth




15. Cassavetes : Faja Blues




14. R_Garcia : Everything Ever




13. Levi/Werstler : Avalanche Of Worms




12. Jungol : Over The Sun And Under The Radar




11. Big Boi : Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty




10. The Back Pockets : Blissters N Basements




9. Sorry No Ferrari : Ternary




8. Red Sea : Weird Problem




7. Nomen Novum : Go Primal




6. Qurious : Planet Plant




5. Oryx & Crake : Oryx & Crake




4. This Piano Plays Itself : As the House…




3. Deerhunter : Halcyon Digest




2. Janelle Monáe : The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III)




1. Living Rooms : House Kid

[Review] Of Montreal, Janelle Monae @ Variety Playhouse (11/7/10)

Hello, my name is Glenda Harris, and I am writing this in the hopes of saving young people from the horrors that await them in the guise of “fun dance-oriented indie pop”. My son, Sam, was listening to the talented Justin Bieber on his Pandora radio account. Unfortunately, it seems as if the devil was picking the songs. The next song that Satan chose was titled “Enemy Gene” by Of Montreal. Well after he begged and pleaded I agreed to accompany him to see this “Of Montreal” at the Variety Playhouse.

We arrived about halfway through the opening act, Janelle Monae. Her voice was like that of an angel, but right away I knew something wasn’t quite right. Well, as it turns out, she is an obvious communist. One of her catchiest tunes is even titled “Cold War.” I noticed with horror that the crowd went crazy over this Marxist ballad.

Her next song, “Tight-rope”, was so catchy that I myself would have found it impossible not to dance, were it not for the pocket bible weighing my feet down. Her music is a strangely enticing blend of R&B, soul, and hip-hop. I’m sure she designed it that way so that young folks will accept her evil agenda. Several times during her set I found myself wondering if that socialist, Obama, was somehow behind this.

Near the end of her set she was joined by a half-naked homosexual monstrosity who sang a song titled “Make the Bus” with her. I had to put my hands over little Sam’s eyes several times due to the overtly provocative dancing on stage. When the song was over I was relieved to know that I would not have to see the male performer again. She also did something unconventional: she had a canvas brought to the stage in order to paint a picture while performing. I would have liked this but the picture was just wretched. It consisted of black lines and random colors making a face with the words “I love you” at the top to hide her message of hate.

During the break between sets I noticed that almost all the people in the venue were total deadbeat losers. They looked like the worst kind of young people: the kind who have not accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. The environment was much too hostile for me to attempt to witness to them, however. I can’t be sure but I think I smelled reefer throughout the entire show. These people are exactly who Glenn Beck is trying to save. I say he’s too late with this crowd. These kids wouldn’t have known the difference between traditional family values and a crack pipe.

Finally, it was time for Of Montreal to come on stage. Apparently, Of Montreal is known for their garish set pieces and costume design. I was not aware of this, having read a review of their show at the 40 watt in September which kicked off this tour. That show included very few costume changes by Kevin Barnes and none of the theatrics. The audience was greeted by two eight foot tall men wearing fish heads with gas masks who were carrying shotguns while walking slowly around the stage. I should have bolted immediately, yet by this point I couldn’t take my eyes off the spectacle before me. Kevin Barnes is supposedly married, but do not let that fool you into thinking he is in anyway a wholesome family role model. His marriage is clearly a sham. I have never seen a more homosexual male in my life. I cannot express my outrage at the realization that the singer for Of Montreal was the very same monstrosity who sang the duet with Janelle Monae. My arm fell asleep no less than ten times while covering poor Sam’s eyes during their set. Kevin Barnes is the indie rock equivalent to The Karate Kid as far as furthering the gay agenda goes. About halfway through the set he all but made love to three other people in pig suits. I was mortified to see that Sam was peeking through my fingers and was unable to suppress an erection. I will have to live with the horror that a homo-erotic sex sequence featuring possible elements of bestiality, and not his wedding night, is how my child learned about sex.

The crowd was mostly well behaved when the band performed any of their new False Priest songs, but was downright horrible whenever they played any older material. Most of the older material was off of their Hissing Fauna album. During these songs, everybody would dance and jump and sing along with twice the energy. If you have not heard their music, the best way I can describe it is psychedelic/funk/pop. The band had incredible stage presence, and performed all the songs quite well. After discerning some of the lyrics I had what my doctor is trying to call a complete nervous breakdown after discovering that there was no way in which I could shield both Sam’s eyes and ears at the same time. The lyrics are all atrocious odes to sexual promiscuity and a sin-filled lifestyle. This show felt like having my soul doused by fire then spit on and made to watch gay actions again and again. The worst part, by far, was the encore song: A cover of Michael Jackson’s song, “Thriller”. The only thing worse than a pedophile’s song is that song being covered by Kevin Barnes. Not only did it sound like the end of innocence, it was the corrupt-homo end of innocence.

I have filed a class action lawsuit against Pandora radio and sent my son to a Bible oriented reform school. I fear that even this will not repair the damage. I hope that young people will heed my warnings and stay far away from this flamboyant fag-man masquerading as a musician. This music will lead listeners straight to hell. God Bless you all.

[Photos] The Other Sound Festival 2010: Abby Go Go, Author’s Apology, Buffalo Bangers, The Charges, Grand Prize Winners, King Congregation, Little Tybee, Odist, Oryx & Crake, Skin Jobs

Abby Go Go:


Click here to read the entire post…

[Diatribe] Sufjan Shenanigans


Photo by Marzuki Stevens


Sufjan Stevens’ label, Ashmatic Kitty, laid out an interesting plea by email this week to their artist’s mailing list. The email is in regards to the upcoming release of The Age of Adz (pronounced odds), the first full length LP from Stevens in almost 5 years.

Here’s an excerpt:

“We have it on good authority that Amazon will be selling The Age of Adz for a very low price on release date, not unlike they did with Arcade Fire’s recent (and really terrific) The Suburbs. We’re not 100% sure Amazon will do this, but mostly sure.

We have mixed feelings about discounted pricing. Like we said, we love getting good music into the hands of good people, and when a price is low, more people buy. A low price will introduce a lot of people to Sufjan’s music and to this wonderful album. For that, we’re grateful.

But we also feel like the work that our artists produce is worth more than a cost of a latte. We value the skill, love, and time they’ve put into making their records. And we feel that our work too, in promotion and distribution, is also valuable and worthwhile.

That’s why we personally feel that physical products like EPs should sell for around $7 and full-length CDs for around $10-12 We think digital EPs should sell for around $5 and full-length digital albums for something like $8.”

All of this strikes me as very odd, considering that they obviously had to sign a deal with Amazon to distribute the album digitally. The rant even states that they can see how many new fans this can help bring to the table, and their comment about The Suburbs clearly shows that they are making an attempt to mirror the success of the Arcade Fire’s latest effort. That album went number one in its inception, largely due to the Amazon week one price tag of $3.99 and highly discounted first week rates from other digital outlets. Digital downloads accounted for 62% of that album’s first week.

The NY Times did some digging recently, and it turns out that Amazon usually takes a loss by buying the albums at the wholesale price of around $7 from the record companies in an attempt to gain more ground in the digital download arena. That’s only ONE dollar less than what they state in their article is how much they would like for people to spend on a download. If you wanna make that much for an album download, why don’t you just make $8 your wholesale price?

All of these facts make me a little bit irritated by this rant from Asthmatic Kitty. If you don’t want your album available for digital download at Amazon, I’m sure you could have not signed that dotted line! I understand how you are just a little indie label but groveling for my money after YOU make all kinds of business deals to move your company forward is just plain ridiculous.

The internet is going to continue making it difficult, and labels are going to have to think outside of the box to find solid ground for a long time to come. But if an artist creates good music, people will buy the album, come to shows, and buy merchandise. I still believe that most music lovers find their way to help their favorite artists to continue moving things forward.

The Age of Adz is available on October 12th and seems to deliberately expand his sound into a more electronic and synth driven realm. Also, if you haven’t gotten his All Delighted People EP it serves as a great precursor to the upcoming album.

Sufjan Stevens’ Bandcamp

[Photos] Snowden @ Glasslands Gallery (7/9/10) & Mercury Lounge (7/10/10)

[Diatribe] Riding The Chillwave In The Year Of Indiebore

“Chillwave is the pinnacle of the snoozification of indie music…”

Six months ago, I wrote off the chillwave hype as just a passing fad, but as this year has progressed, I’ve realized the phenomenon is much more than a anomalous blip. I don’t find the music encompassing chillwave particularly impressive, though some of it is very nice when I’m in the right mood, but in terms of discerning the current state of music, chillwave turns out to be pretty damn fascinating.

First of all, the nature of the genre is rather unique. Typically in the history of pop music, genres emerge either from a single artist inventing a new style and others copycatting, or due to various people in one geographic location or scene co-inventing an aesthetic together. With chillwave, various artists in completely different locations having no ties to one another coincidentally developed respective sounds that were similar enough to be grouped together by people observing them on the Internet. Certainly these artists have some common bonds in terms of influences, but for an entire genre to come into existence and predominance this quickly from this sort of origin is previously unheard of and it marks the beginning of a new, “post-blog” era in music.

Welcome To The Post-Blog Era

Before this music blog/Internet/Indie revolution happened, a very small handful of people decided what most people would get to hear. Label execs and old school music journalists guessed what would be in fashion and fed it to listeners who only had few options in terms of sources to discover new music. Once the Internet changed that, there was promise of more freedom for music listeners, and with the barriers to entry tumbling down in journalism, it seemed there would be endless voices and opinions to aid people in finding the music they enjoyed most. All of that came to pass, but with an ever-growing amount of voices and options out there, the problem has shifted from not enough choice to an over-abundance. Which of the five billion blogs does a random person go to for finding new music they like?

With an overload of information, people have migrated towards the sources that could make sense of all of that data best, or the ones they recognize most. So in the last few years, even though a new blog is born every second, the amount of people with influence in the world of indie has coalesced into fewer and fewer hands. Power has been consolidated into three general groups: you have aggregators like Hypemachine and Elbows, you have the sites with the most comprehensive and quickest press releases, like Largehearted Boy, Brooklyn Vegan, and Pitchfork, and then you have tastemakers who have been the most successful at chasing down the zeitgeist of indie, like Hipster Runoff, Gorilla Vs Bear, and again Pitchfork. But that’s pretty much it, because if an artist isn’t doing well in those three spheres of influence, then most people won’t ever hear of them.

Looking back, the blog era didn’t end up changing music journalism as fundamentally as some thought, it more forced a changing of the guard. What is happening is a solidification and amplification of the most successful of the blog-era journalists. The trend will now shift towards conglomeration. Case and point, for a while I have thought there has been an enormous opportunity to create a viable alternative to compete with Pitchfork, if someone with the resources and understanding went out and just drafted all of the best music bloggers, putting them together on one website. It seems so simple, but it appears the only other person who thought of it was Pitchfork, who made another brilliant move in creating their potential competition themselves. Next week, Pitchfork will unveil Altered Zones, which is exactly what I just described: a central-website with a staff of hand-picked bloggers.

Back to chillwave…

It is the first example of a genre popularized by this new, post-blog regime. Hipster Runoff, Gorilla Vs Bear, and Pitchfork all but colluded in coming together and creating a successful music fashion by themselves. A musician’s career in the indie world can be made overnight by one of these three websites, and chillwave’s ascension is empirically irrefutable evidence to that effect.

But chillwave wasn’t simply an arbitrary occurrence. It isn’t a case of those with influence shoving something down everyone else’s throats. Those websites have become the primary tastemakers because they know what they are doing. As indie music has continually become more popular, these sites have backed records that they believed would have the broadest coalition of indie music fans. The music they endorse may not be mainstream in popular culture on the whole, but they rarely give their blessing to music that couldn’t at least become popular among indie fans. And chillwave appeals to so many different cross sections of indie listeners. The lo-fi kids can get into it, but so can electronic and electro peeps. It’s got that fashionable beachy vibe. It’s psychedelic, but nice and melodic, even containing a strong ’80s thread. It’s as if the genre was put together purposely to be the most commercially viable indie genre ever.

Of course, this race to the lowest common denominator is nothing new. And if chillwave is the worst of it, than indie may never die. I mean, think about what grunge morphed into six or seven years down the line. Indie music is still not as mainstream as previous major pop music movements, and it’s in the nature of indie listeners to enjoy a much wider range of styles than mainstream listeners, so there are limitations to how watered down things can get.

In addition, it’s not just a matter of indie getting too popular either. There are also fundamental changes in the way people listen to music and the way people make music that has driven us to this chillwave era.

Before everyone could steal whatever record they wanted, most people could only afford to buy so many, and they spent a lot more time with their music. These days kids are blowing through as much music as quickly as possible to find the next buzzband, and if a record doesn’t have a track that can catch someone’s attention right away, it can easily get overlooked. The successful music websites understand this and play to it, thus forcing musicians to play to it as well in order to break out from the other 5 billion musicians.

The audience is now the entertainer. Reality music has arrived.

And that’s the other side of the coin. The barrier to entry has faded away to become a musician just the same as it has to become a journalist, making chillwave the first confluence of these parallel shifts. Everyone is trying to stand out in an extremely saturated market, and that situation dictates the nature of what emerges. Any retard can download a cracked version of Ableton Live and be a chillwave-star. Talent is less a prerequisite to becoming a musician now than it ever has before. There is a dumbing down happening simultaneously in both indie music listeners and indie music makers, so the indie music journalists succeeding are simply giving people exactly what they want.

I’m not sure if that mostly accounts for how boring mainstream indie releases have become lately or not, but things have definitely gotten mundane. And that gives chillwave even more momentum: lack of competition. Chillwave is the pinnacle of the snoozification of indie music, and there aren’t many other major trends happening at the moment.

Ultimately though, I find all of these developments to be natural, not necessarily negative. Music works in cyclical ways, and when a lull in interesting sounds happens, it usually leads to something completely new breaking out. Either indie will find a way to renew itself or something different and better will come along. And as far as boring music goes, again, we could do a lot worse.

The Summer Generation

There is something more cultural than musical that helps sustain chillwave as well. With everything in the news so dramatically full of conflict, a cultural backlash of people who are apathetic to those events has emerged. Unlike the ’90′s generation, kids today just want to chill out and be happy. This generation doesn’t care about protest songs, they want something to casually listen to while they are hanging by the pool.

So in absence of popular indie trends that I prefer, I’m just going to go ahead and ride the chillwave for the rest of the summer. Hopefully by autumn there will be some more compelling national releases than the bulk of what has come out so far this year, and if not, there’s still plenty of good stuff out there if you dig deep enough, but there sure is a lot of junk to sift through as well.

Here are a couple of my fave chillwave jams, coincidentally from relatively local acts:

Toro Y Moi : “Blessa”
Washed Out : “You & I”

I touched on a lot of different subjects above, so I thought I would post of a few references that I recommend you check out to dig deeper into these topics. First, if you are clueless about the genre of chillwave, this is a piece to give you a primer, though I’m not sure I agree with all of their characterizations:

“In Defense of Chillwave” by Brandon Soderberg @ Village Voice

Carles of Hipster Runoff popularized the “chillwave” term, and here is his most recent piece discussing it and the state of indie music:

“CHILLWAVE OIL SPILL: When Natural and Man-Made Forces Collide To Form an Indie Disaster” by Carles @ Hipster Runoff

Here’s a little something further explaining the “post-blog era” with a more thorough examination of why this has happened:

“Dizzy Polari: music blogs are dead, long live music blogs!” by Matt Tyson @ Earfarm

On the subject of what the barrier to entry collapsing for musicians has done to music, Atlanta’s own Eric Guenther (From Exile) dropped a rant on Metalsucks a few months ago addressing that very subject:

“MUSIC IS DEAD.” by Eric Guenther @ Metalsucks

Finally, I want to thank Kill Your Darlings ATL for helping me edit this piece.

Ohmpark’s Top 40 Albums of The Decade

decade

I wouldn’t claim this is the most comprehensive list of the ’00′s best albums, but everything on here I consider part of the canon. I spent months and months obsessed with each and every record on this list. These albums helped shape my music taste. They define a generation that might have produced the best art in pop music history. Here’s one last list:

Click here to read the entire post…

Ohmpark’s Top 50 Albums of 2009

ohmparktop102009_50albumsFINAL

As this decade comes to a close, there is no doubt it will be remembered for the rise of Indie music and the enormous influence the Internet has had on the course of music history. 10 years ago the independent music scenes of the United States were fragmented by location and genre. But thanks to technology, they have all coalesced into one huge melting pot phenomenon unlike any other before it. There was no giant explosion as with underground scenes of the past. It was a slow, steady crawl that still goes unnoticed today by a large portion of pop culture despite unlikely widespread commercial success from weirdos like Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear. And thus 2009 marks the high point so far in this golden age of music. The money may be draining out of the industry faster and faster, but the art is getting better, and there’s a whole lot more of it.

Last year I felt other Blogelites’ end of year lists were rewarding commercial viability over music quality and I was worried that Indie music as whole may have been moving towards the mainstream a little too much. It turns out my slight pessimism may have been unfounded, at least for now. This year I agree with the hipster consensus picks for the most part, and my list lines up with others’ lists much more so than in the past two years. I still think things are moving in a poppier direction overall, but that may not be all that bad of a thing if it results in albums like Merriweather Post Pavilion, Veckatimest, and Bitte Orca, all of which were the most accessible efforts to date from their respective artists. You have to figure this Indie thing is going to eventually burn out and something else is going to come along, but so far there is no sign of it slowing. I continue to suspect that there is something fundamentally different about this music movement than its predecessors.

Up until this year, one phenomenon that was prevalent in former scenes that was not a primary characteristic of the Indie world was artists collaborating and teaming up with one another. But in 2009, that seemed to change. Two of the greatest compilations of all time came out this year, Dark Night of The Soul & Dark Was The Night. Both Dark comps featured a vast cast of Indie stars all working together in new configurations, and the music world began to fell a little smaller and more tightly knit together. You had My Brightest Diamond joining The Decemberists and Beach House joining Grizzly Bear. There was Karen O’s Kids, there was the Monsters of Folk, there was Zach Hill working with as many artists as he can. Certainly there have been plenty of team-ups before, but this year it just felt different to me.

Last year’s trend was the No Agey distortion lo-fi sound, and that bled into 2009 for a bit helping propel Wavves into Indie celebrity. This year’s trend would be “chill-wave”, characterized by bands like Real Estate, Neon Indian, and Washed Out. This stuff sounds nice, but for the most part it is way too boring to amount to anything more than a passing fad.

Even though I agree with the P4kish lists more this year, I still think there are plenty of overrated records getting way too much love. Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Fever Ray bored me to death. Girls was good for a crappy punk record, but that’s like winning the Special Olympics. The new Baroness was weak, and I think people were overcompensating for overlooking the stellar 2007 Red Album. And you’ll find my list absent of any hip-hop records for the first time, as I could not find a single one that felt special. I absolutely hate that I cannot find anything worthwhile in a genre I used to love, but all I hear is unimaginative garbage or borrowed styles done better 15 years ago. One thing that always appealed to me about hip-hop was how one beat and one rhyme could express so much, but now I feel this style is overwrought with limitations and constricting expectations. Innovators could always come along and revive this thing, but right now I don’t hear a heartbeat.

In years past, I flexed my writing muscles by doing individual write-ups for all 50 albums on my list, but this year I decided to spare you readers the overkill. For the most part, I’ve already said everything I want to about these records, and if I haven’t the other 5 billion bloggers sure have. Enjoy the final product of a year’s worth of research:

Click here to read the entire post…

2009 In Pictures – Part 2: Photos by Kevin Griggs

Abby Go Go:
Abby GO GO-7790

A Fight To The Death:
AFightToTheDeath-6167

Atlas Moth:
Atlas Moth-3377

Attention System:
ATTENTION SYSTEM-5023

Book of Colors:
Book Of Colors-6515

Click here to read the entire post…

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