David Byrne, Marissa Nadler, Kim Gordon Give Artforum Their Best-Ofs
When our phone book-sized copy of Artforum's annual "Best Of" arrived in the mail yesterday, we turned immediately to the "Best Of Music 2007" section, of course, where we were happily surprised to see a list from Stereofave Marissa Nadler, where she gives props to Jesse Sykes (no. 1), James Blackshaw (no. 2), and Mariee Sioux (no. 5), among others. Ms. Nadler's unabridged thoughts on a couple other of her picks:
10 Neko Case & Her Boyfriends, Furnace Room Lullaby (Anti-)Flipping back a couple pages, Kim Gordon posts her list -- some great stuff on there like NY noise demons Mouthus (no. 1), longtime psychedelicists Charlambides (no. 2), our beloved MV & EE (no. 3 and no. 4), the great Finnish avant-folkie Islaja (No. 5), and old Michigan hardcore Wolf Eyes heroes Negative Approach (no. 9) (god bless Laughing Hyenas, too), but it was no. 6 that most grabbed our attention:
One of my favorite records of all time has been reissued this year. Case is one hell of a singer, and she has a powerful stage presence. I'm happy to hear that her earlier albums are being reissued by Anti-, since some of her best work can be found on those recordings...08 Tegan And Sara, The Con (Sire)
I have a soft spot for girl-led pop-rock outfits, having grown up on bands such as Belly and Mazzy Star. Tegan and Sara are the new Throwing Muses. Their tunes are catchy and fun, but go deeper than the standard pop fare.07 Andrew Bird, Armchair Apocrypha (Fat Possum)
In the song "Imitosis," Bird sings that everyone is basically alone. I relate to this sentiment, and it's rare to hear something so disconsolate being expressed in an indie-pop chorus. He's also a killer violin player -- a refreshing alternative to all the troubadouring guitar boys these days.06 Beirut, The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing)
An eclectic collection of songs from the very young and talented Brooklyn-based octet whose sounds make traveling seem as easy as playing a CD.
06 Britney Spears at the MTV Video Music Awards, Las VegasWe're still not entirely sure what we could call it. We also really dug the list by David Byrne, which you can read in full after the jump.
Sorry, but I was impressed. In the year's most psychotic media moment, Britney created something more real than reality TV: entertainment without borders, an unconsciously brilliant deconstruction of American Idolism, a disintegration in slow-mo. You could almost call it art.
10 Young@Heart Chorus An amazing choir from Northampton, Massachusetts, whose youngest member is seventy-two. I recently brought them to New York for my "How New Yorkers Ride Bikes" event at Town Hall (they sang Queen's "Bicycle Race," of course). The next day, at the Paris Bar, they did their own show of songs by the Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, and others -- all of which seemed to take on new meanings.Interesting reading of "My Body Is A Cage," we think. And of course, you already knew David loved him some Vampire Weekend. But why no mention of The BQE?09 The Blow, Paper Television (K. Records)
The Blow, which formerly comprised Khaela Maricich and Jona Bechtolt (both collaborated on Paper Television; Bechtolt has since left), play supercatchy songs that deal bluntly with what life really feels like while avoiding almost all the cliches. Their live performances mix Ellen DeGeneres and Miranda July with some crazy shape-throwing.08 Vampire Weekend
This band assemble a crazy mash-up of African guitar lines and to-the-point NYC lyrics and melodies. They are working on an album now for XL Recordings, due in January 2008.07 Jonathan Bepler's scores
When I recently saw Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation's video Rape of the Sabine Woman, 2006, and Matthew Barney's filmic collaboration with Arto Lindsay, De Lama Låmina (From Mud, a Blade), 2004, Bepler's scores and sound design stole both shows. In each case, Bepler realized the common but challenging ambition of making ordinary sounds, speech, and environmental music into music.06 Romance & Cigarettes
John Turturro's uproarious musical movie set in Queens begins where British TV series Pennies From Heaven left off. In Pennies, the characters lip- synched to 1930s songs, making explicit the way that pop tunes are often the sound tracks of our lives. In Turturro's movie, the actors' voices can be heard as well, singing along with Tom Jones as the neighbors chime in and garbagemen dance.05 Flight Of The Conchords (HBO)
Similar in some ways to the British comedy program Mighy Boosh, though not quite as far-out or surreal. This was a musical stand-up act that got expanded for television, so the duo of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie had time to hone and polish their already hilarious songs.04 Arcade Fire, Neon Bible (Merge)
Holy shit, these guys went from supporting me at the Hollywood Bowl to headlining their own show there in just two years! Well, they are one of the few "rock" acts that seem sincere, ambitious, and happy to be making music. "My Body Is a Cage" is a great song, even if the lyrics are all backward.03 R. Kelly, Trapped In The Closet (Jive)
Part two (chapters 13-22) came out on DVD recently. This is what should be on Broadway -- a slightly silly, but perfectly constructed, daytime drama in song. A kooky bit of dramatized epic poetry that laughs at its own blatant outrageousness -- but not too much.02 Caetano Veloso, Cê (Nonesuch)
Veloso's divorce album. His previous few records were lush and romantic, but personal events prompted a shift in style. With the help of his son Moreno and friend Pedro Sá, Veloso has found a sparse, postrock beauty in which strange yet simple rock instrumentation is juxtaposed with softly seething vocals.01 White Hats, Niobe (Tomlab)
This "group" is actually just Yvonne Cornelius, a young woman who lives in Cologne and combines gentle electronic tracks with layered and manipulated vocals.
Posted at 5:49 PM
Tags: David Byrne | Kim Gordon | Marissa Nadler
yay caetano veloso!
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it's not jermaine, it's jemaine! c'mon now!
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I love Jesse Sykes, but other than one or two tracks her latest record was miserable. Hoping for a swift recovery.
And someone needs to take the Internet away from David Byrne before he embarrasses himself any further.
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I'm not that surprised by Kim - she always has these popstar obsessions like Karen Carpenter, Mariah Carey, Madonna.
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Interesting reading of "Trapped in the Closed", methinks.
And yay for mentioning "Paper Television", definitely one of my top albums of the year.
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I thought that was what the internets was for-- embarassing one's self?
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The name of David Byrne's #1 is mixed up. The artist performs under the name Niobe, and album is called "White Hats."
Details aside, I have to agree - it is a beautiful album.
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@Nick
Interesting, that's how it's written in Artforum. Wonder if it's Byrne's mistake or theirs ... I like the idea of him having it backwards.
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Now wait a minute there trigger..."miserable" seems like a pretty broad dismissal of the most recent Jesse Sykes disc. If by miserable you're saying that its themes are dark, then that kind of goes without saying for a Jesse Sykes record. But if you're saying it sucks, that just seems way off base and makes me wonder whether you really even listened to it very carefully. At least for me, it didn't reveal itself completely on the first or second listen. But I've come to feel that it's a really great record (maybe their best in fact) and that people will continue to come back to in the years to come.
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I would give anything to watch Trapped In The Closet with David Byrne.
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I would like to see a continuation of the topic
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f7c5b1b2ce192a0d53eb9021fa02e87c
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Trapped in the closet is genius! should be blogged about more often
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http://www.nintendo-town.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=517
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rosie@triad29.com
rosieponder@verizon.net
Not only do they try to rip you off, they send your email out and you get a ton of junk mail.
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I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links:
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you have a very nice community ,
thank you for the valuable information.
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Sorry if this gets posted twice... maybe having tech pbs.
Really enjoyed this list.
How's the list for 2008 shaping up? I have a contender for you. Dieter Schöön's album Lablaza. It's being given a release this year outside of Sweden which is where Dieter is from. I am totally overwhelmed by it and thought you might enjoy it too.
Here's the link to his myspace:
www.myspace.com/dieterschoon
& if you like those songs let me know if you want a link to the album.
All the very best, Carl
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Hello my friend, your site is very good! http://fpnxsokkbpznel.com
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Anyone know how old this forum is? As in what year it was started?
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Sorry, wrong topic. :ups:
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