Year in Videos

Of all the year-end lists floating around, the one that I consistently get something out of is Pitchfork's Best Videos, mostly because I don't have a way to filter through all the music video output. As a genre, I am sort of surprised the music vid has survived, but the video artists that do this stuff always turn out some gems. Here are two of my favorites from the list.

One I have seen before:

Lenny Kravitz (Justice Remix) - Let Love Rule
Uploaded by elnino. - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

And a totally new one (for me, at least):

Alan Lomax in Haiti Box Set

In the 1930s musicologist Alan Lomax went to Haiti on a recording mission. Armed with some wax cylinders and a notebook, Lomax had the practically impossible dream of documenting an entire culture's musical development, and he came pretty damn close, making over 1,500 recordings. This treasure trove had, until recently, been sitting in the Library of Congress collecting dust until a restoration project began.

Now we have a box set that includes some 287 songs on 10 cds from artists like Assasins (the killers) and Plaisance Boy Scout Troupe (Awesome). Included in the set is a transcription of many of the creole lyrics and field notes. Unfortunately it is not cheap (very few worthwhile things are!), but it is universally available thanks to Other Music's digital store.

Read more and stream at Spinner

Ariel Pink gets a record deal on 4AD

This one via the
4AD site.

Glad to see he is off that Animal Collective whatever label and has more stuff coming. Pink and Haunted Graffiti basically were the west-coast pioneers of a certain tapey, hissy "lo-fi" (increasingly annoying to use that term) sound. Lots of big '09 releases (Nite Jewel, Kurt Vile) are indebted to him.

mp3 Holy Shit (Matt Fishbeck and Ariel Pink) I Don't Need Enemies

Video: The Avett Brothers Slight Figure of Speech

Rockin. Nice job Jody Hill (Foot Fist Way).

gonna break out that vcr soon.

tUnE-yArDs

With all of the LOVE that the Dirty Projectors' NYC shows have been getting, it seems like a good time to check out Merrill Garbus' solo project called tUnE yArDs, who opened for the DPs on Sunday at Bowery.

tUnE yArDs is definitely a case of the apple not falling very far from the tree (Dirty Projectors). Like the Dirty Projectors, Garbus places her vocal virtuosity in relief by often going a-capella or pairing her voice with sort of incongruous ukelele loops.

My take on this stuff goes in and out, but right now it is definitely on the in-tide. Garbus is a rare vocalist who really explores her medium (the voice) and then manages to make things more interesting with the strong rhythmic patterns of the loops.

Single "Hatari" is !!!. tribal wailing launches into a sick drumbeat. Get down.

mp3 tUnE yArDs Hatari

Beach House Teen Dream

Long hiautus due to an increasingly busy holiday work schedule. Posts will probably be less frequent for a minute.

That said, there are a couple of exciting January releases to be looking forward to, most notably Teen Dream, the new album from Beach House on January 26 (preorder).

The Baltimore group has some serious momentum. They signed on Sub-Pop, they had a song in New Moon, and blew everyone away at that free Grizzly Bear show that Jay-Z went to in August.

Every preview mentions that Teen Dream was recorded in some sort of old church, but I don't understand how this is relevant to either your or my eardrums. What you need to know is that Victoria Legrand is a monster talent. On the new album she uses her voice in a more conventional way. The long, abstract notes that characterized Devotion are less frequent. The songs still have plenty of atmosphere (and reverb), but they are tighter, often oriented around a hook. While it sounds like this approach could water down the whole Beach House effect, it is more of a calculated risk. Beach House rises to their self-imposed challenge on Teen Dream, using the formal problems posed by pop convention to move their sound in new directions.

Single "Norway" is widely available, but here it is again.

mp3 Beach House Norway

CFCF: Continent

If you read this blog, you probably have seen very little blog-core, electro remixes, or basically anything that might make it to the top of hypemachine. In a total reversal, this post will cover an artist that made a remix of "D.A.N.C.E."

CFCF is Montreal's Mike Silver, who chose to name his project after an early Quebecois English-language TV station: "Canada's First, Canada's Finest." His remix output has been prolific (great ones of Justice, Health, and Crystal Castles) and consistent, a rarity for these blogophilic producers.

Now comes a full-length, Continent, which should be regarded as a test for someone like CFCF. Happily, Silver passes. His debut is coherent, consistent, and interesting. On Continent Silver ditches blog-core's main aesthetic principle (instant gratification) and instead takes his cues from a more sophisticated balearic place. Artists like Studio come to mind.

Buy Continent here

mp3 sample of remixes plus the single from Continent. It almost feels rebellious to post the Justice one so far after the fact. But as is typical with CFCF, it is restraint that carries his "D.A.N.C.E." which, in my opinion, remains the best interpretation of the original.

mp3 Justice D.A.N.C.E. (CFCF remix)
mp3 Health Before Tigers (CFCF remix)
mp3 CFCF Monolith