2011 in Music (Part 4)
Awwwwwriiiiiight. Let’s get to that top 5!
5. New History Of Warfare Vol. 2: Judges - Colin Stetson: It’s a rarity these days to hear music that sounds entirely unlike else you’ve heard, let alone make you completely rethink an entire instrument. This was my exact reaction though upon hearing the second solo album from multi-instrumentalist (though primarily saxophonist) and indie journeyman Colin Stetson. To be precise, I believe I told my friend who made me aware of him something to the effect of “I have to reconsider everything I’m doing with music and the saxophone.” The most obvious things to mention when discussing Mr. Stetson’s music are his performance and recording techniques. Stetson is a master of circular breathing, allowing him to blow air through the horn for an indefinite amount of time, which makes my head hurt just figuring out how it works. This plus some incredible coordination and sense of rhythm allows Stetson not only to play conventional notes and some less-than-conventional harmonic tones, but also vocalize through the horn AND create primal counter-rhythms with nothing more than key clicking. Stetson captures all of these unique sounds in single takes without any use of extra instruments, dubbing, or looping through strategic placement of 16 mics on his horn and around the room he’s recording in. The result is an almost otherworldly cacophony of harmonics, arpeggios, and repeating figures with the occasional assist from guest vocalists Laurie Anderson (who creates a unifying sense of story through spoken word about war-torn cities and societies) and Shara Worden (who lends her trademark velvety pipes for a heartwrenchingly gorgeous rendition of the traditional blues crooner “Lord I Just Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes”). Playing out like a soundtrack to an unwritten film (opener “Awake On Foreign Shores” even has shades of Hans Zimmer’s infamous “BWOOOM” hits from the Inception OST), New History of Warfare Vol. 2 manages to be both a very visceral and physical work while incredibly emotional and delicate. It is minimalist in nature, but it manages to convey so much in a short period of time. It is truly unlike anything else out there right now, in rock, avant-garde, jazz, classical, or anywhere in between.
Colin Stetson: ”The Stars In His Head (Dark Lights Remix)”
4. The Electric Hand - Ocoai: Instrumental group Ocoai (pronounced oh-ko-eye) defies easy categorization. Hailing from Johnson City, Tennessee, they combine elements of sludge, shoegaze, and progressive rock and metal into a very appealing package that focuses on building up intricate layers of sound to form ambient-like musical environments but isn’t afraid to let loose and bludgeon with heavy bass and slick riffs. On their 2008 debut Breatherman they built a more than solid foundation on this sound, at times bringing to mind other great work from post-metal groups like Pelican while forging their own path with interesting use of horns and strings. The Electric Hand picks up where they left off but with a bit more focus. Some of the ambient haze is cut down, but not at the expense of aural imagery. The album is ripe with dark impressions of terrifying places and things. Organ plays a much larger role here, which gives it more of a prog-rock bite to it, particularly once the album builds up to its lengthy climax on tracks “Le Main D’electrique” and “Marchand de Sommeil” (the band has a penchant for French song titles). It’s an entirely immersive, cohesive, and thoroughly thrilling package that shows great promise for this band that deserves a lot more exposure and praise.
3. Deaden The Fields - Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving: A friend introduced me to this Australian instrumental band a couple of years ago when all they had was an EP titled Tiny Fragments and a split EP with sleepmakeswaves. I was immediately spellbound by their unique blend of progressive jazz, metal, and electronics with pianist Aaron Pollard at the center of it all. Imagine the technical mastery of fusion groups like Return To Forever with more modern leaders of progressive metal, mathcore, etc. (classic Dream Theater, Between the Buried and Me, Don Caballero, and more). It’s a classic piano quartet turned on its head. It was with great anticipation that I listened to their debut full-length LP, Deaden The Fields, earlier this year. TToL go for broke right from the beginning with the epic 17-minute track “Landmarks,” an apt title for a song that touches so many musical destinations with a killer refrain after my heart (featuring tenor sax and what appears to be trombone later on). It takes all the best elements of their early work and catapults it to an entire new level. And while the rest of the album doesn’t quite live up to the heights or promise of innovative progressive jazz/metal fusion that “Landmarks” does, the tracks that follow are intricately-crafted feats of post-metal with flourishes of electronic clicks and whirls. Easily some of the best and most unique instrumental rock/metal out there today, and undeniable feat for a band with just their first full-length album under their belt. Hopefully this group from down under will find its way to the states sometime soon.
Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving: “Landmarks” (1st half on Youtube)
2. Weightless - Animals As Leaders: Tosin Abasi is a guitar god. Plain and simple. At the forefront of the whole eight-string guitar movement that’s taken hold in progressive rock/metal circles, Abasi started out as the lead guitarist of the DC metalcore band Reflux. After Reflux’s disbandment in 2008, Abasi began his solo project Animals As Leaders and released his self-titled debut in 2009 to largely positive reviews despite its use of programmed drums. AaL quickly became associated with djent, a metal subgenre characterized by distorted low power chord chugging combined with masterful guitar soloing. While I loved that album for Abasi’s sweeping solos, odd meters, and electronic flourishes, I found the songs blending into one another after a while. I guess I’m just not a huge fan of djent. It was with great pleasure though that AaL’s next album, this year’s Weightless, was different in a couple of ways. First, the band is a proper trio now, and the difference is easily felt throughout the record. Tosin will always be the primary focus as writer and soloer, but the sound behind him feels fuller, more organic, and more important to its overall sound. Second, the album’s sound is far more diverse and daring than the self-titled. Jazz and fusion play a much larger role (the breakdown in the middle of “To Lead You To An Overwhelming Question” is the closest to straight-up jazz), and the styles range from brutally heavy to nearly ambient to almost danceable. It may make the album a bit less cohesive, but it still all flows together quite well. I feel that I may be in a relative minority in this way judging from other reviews and comments I’ve heard and read (and the band’s choice of songs to perform live when I saw them recently in support of Between the Buried and Me), but I’m not at all sorry to see Tosin and co. move away from strict djent and unrelenting heaviness and towards more nuanced and varied composition. Hopefully they will continue to explore and press forward rather than stick within the strict confines of djent and technical heaviness (though obviously without leaving it behind entirely) for that would be far more progressive in my personal opinion.
1. The Color Spectrum - The Dear Hunter: I wrote briefly about this project from progressive rock outfit The Dear Hunter a couple of months ago, and my feelings have not changed since. The Color Spectrum started as a kind of escape for TDH brainchild Casey Crescenzo. Bound to the amazingly vivacious and musically thrilling world he created as the basis for the band (the story of The Dear Hunter is meant to take place over six “acts,” three of which have been released thus far), Casey has been throwing around the idea of writing an EP for every color in the color spectrum (plus black and white) for several years, but it wasn’t until he was contacted by outside friends and bands such as Manchester Orchestra to collaborate as musicians and producers that the project took shape. Though confining in the sense that each color/EP was meant to convey a specific set of emotions and images, it gave Casey enough freedom to work through a lot of complicated feelings about mortality, love, the meaning of life, etc. and the, uh…spectrum of emotions that follow. It also allowed him to write a ton of songs that wouldn’t normally fit inside the “Acts.” Black is dark, electronic, and very heavy, reminiscent of some of Trent Reznor’s more recent studio and film work (also features some of the most impressive guitar work I’ve heard from Casey). Red is aggressive hard-rock; Orange hearkens back to 70s blues-tinged southern rock; Yellow is Beach Boys-esque sunny pop; Green is folky and introspective bluegrass; Blue is calm and flowing ballads and down-tempo tunes; Indigo is silky ambient electronic pop; Violet is baroque and theatrical (the most similar to the rest of TDH’s catalog); and White is serene and glowing pop. What’s most remarkable about The Color Spectrum though isn’t its concept and musical themes running throughout. It’s that, in the end, Casey Crescenzo, with the help of a lot of friends and family (brother Nick and mother Judy contribute on drums and vocals) constructed 9 EPs - 36 songs over just shy of 2 1/2 hours - of wonderfully addictive music that literally offers something for anyone and for many a whole lot. It’s the kind of thing that truly displays the sheer power of music as an instrument of storytelling, imagery, deep emotions, and beauty. Nothing else has come close to captivating me time and time again (the entire thing flows together almost seamlessly), and that is why it is hands-down my top album of 2011.
The Dear Hunter: “Filth And Squalor (Black EP)”
And that’s it! If you’ve read any of this, you have my sincerest thanks. I’ve had a pretty good year (got my first full-time job, moved to Brooklyn, and worked on some pretty interesting and fun projects in the process), and I think 2012 is going to be even bigger and better. Happy New Year to all of you!
