This Is Not Entertainment

V.

10. Daugthers – Daughters, (Hydra Head) 75.79
As I wrote in my Top 50 Songs list about “The First Supper” (the hottest, craziest jam on this record!), “To get Daughters, you take post-hardcore, a massive Jesus Lizard influence and slam it into math rock” … I should add that this is a full on assault. The record grabs you and gets in your face with blasts of rhythm and noise, gorgeously-annoying electronics, ridiculously jarring dynamics, howled and spit upon words, even bits of hip-hop(?!?). This transcends so much post-hardcore/noise-rock/modern-punk it isn’t even funny. It’s fucking.

9. The Apples in stereo – Travellers In Space & Time, (Yep Roc) 80.37
Obviously The Apples in stereo had to make my Top Ten of the year. “Hey Elevator” took home the coveted #1 Song of the Year and TIS&T is Schneider’s best in years. “Dance Floor” is pure addiction (probably should’ve made my Top 50 list too) with analogue synths, funky bass and incredible melody. “Told You Once” is pure late 90s indie pop with a serious ELO lurv through bouncy piano and disco guitars. Cool brief-vignettes of instructional video samples and vocoder-robots actually enhance the whole concept of space & time.

8. No Age – Everything In Between, (Sub Pop) 77.02
I literally bought this because I wanted to use it as an example of Duh Fork going ga-ga over nothing. I was not impressed with 2008’s Nouns. This thing got an 8.8!! How surprised by the sheer gorgeous-yet-horrifying-slow-burn vibe of the opening track “Life Prowler”. The fuzzed-out-National-esque “Glitter” was even better. I was immediately hooked. “Valley Hump Crash” has a super-catchiness with shoegaze-y changes. “Common Heat” is twee without any preciousness. It’s an *album*, flowing perfectly to a songcraft-crescendo “Chem Trails” – sure there is nostalgia grab, but the melody scars and the chorus is perfect. This LP surprised me big time. YES!

7. Crusaders of Love – Never Grow Up, (Douchemaster) 74.96
Garage-punk-y-power-pop is my jam. It’s the sounds and the choruses on Never Grow Up that get me. I love the lo-fi-ish recording, the perfect amount of sloppy, and the vocals. Take “Time” – the song moves and rocks hard, yet there is plenty of guitar jangle and the chorus kicks. “Can’t Get Enough” and “Shot To The Heart” are punked up just enough classic late-70s power pop that have a serious Teenage Fanclub vibe. “Looking For Us” is pure barn burner rock n roll. I probably listened to this record the most of all on this list.

6. Teenage Fanclub – Shadows, (Merge) 81.25
The songwriting members of TFC contribute four stellar power pop gems each: Norman Blake delivers his usual, Gerard Love adds some nuance to his guitar driven songs (check out the stellar opener “Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe in Anything”), Raymond McGinley gets the most interesting as the feel, the vibe is as important as the melody and hooks (see “The Fall” … holy shit). The harmonies are as bold and perfect as ever, the guitars still crunch, and most importantly, the songs are super strong. Seriously, What the fuck Teenage Fanclub?!? Another amazing record of great pure pop songcraft?

5. OFF! – First Four EPs, (Vice) 76.64
Keith Morris (Black Flag, Circle Jerks), Dimitri Coats (Burning Brides), Steven McDonald (Redd Kross), and Mario Rubalcaba (ex-Hot Snakes and Rocket from the Crypt) are OFF! – a super group I suppose. This is loud, fast, pissed-off 80s hardcore punk made without regard to your comfort level. Morris lets it rip for 17 songs that clock in at NINETEEN minutes. As I said in my review of the records best song he rocks it with “pure vitrol, pure inner turmoil with instruments blazing with reckless 80s hardcore abandon.” Yep. It’s that good.

4. Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles (II), (Universal Motown) 75.74
I dug their 2008 (also) self-titled debut, but I was not prepared with how fookin great this one would be. It’s mind-boggling how Ethan Kath and Alice Glass have made a very experimental electronic record that is full of pop hooks. (II) is an exercise in sonics that simultaneously inhabit the noise scene and alternative electronic pop (I hear New Order and newer acts like The Knife, the Kompakt roster) which reflects the duo’s background. “Celestica” is gorgeous and “Suffocation” aches. “Vietnam” starts off with the buzzing of a baritone beehive then shifts to twinkling synths and a melodic-non-melody (wha?!). “Baptism” has some of the coolest synth tricks/effects tied up in the noisiest, catchiest melody ever composed. I love how the synths throb while Glass screams “This is your baptism! And you can’t forgive ‘em!”

3. The Walkmen – Lisbon, (Fat Possum) 78.59
As I wrote in my review of “Blue As Your Blood” (number 3 on my Top 50 Songs list), “The Walkmen make difficult music.” Not one of their records has been immediate. I labor to listen, to get through the first 10-20 run throughs. The thing that always happens, it suddenly clicks. Yeah, “Blue” was the hook, then the record opened up. “Angela Surf City” with it’s wild man drumming on sunny day beachcomber verse to raucous (oh, such a perfect word to describe The Walkmen) made complete sense. “Juveniles” wasn’t a wink-and-a-nod but a foundation. “Woe Is Me” was discovered deep into the record (what a song!). The mad dynamics of “Victory” blew wide open and didn’t sound damn odd. There is something absurd about The Walkmen, something that rocks hard and is transcendent.

2. Wild Nothing – Gemini, (Slumberland) 79.42
Chillwave, Shmillwave. I thought that this was a re-imagined twee-C86-UK-indie-pop. Oh the sub-sub-genres! Indeed! Gemini is an incredible achievement as it truly is devoid of filler. Every song works and works very well. The slinky lead guitars, the steady back beat, the white Gerhard-Richter-fuzzed edges place the songs in a dream state. “Pessimist”, “Chinatown”, “Confirmation”, “Summer Holiday”, and “O Lilac” all could have made my Top 50 Songs list, but I don’t like one band to claiming so many spots. Great Pop music (whatever the strain) has to possess tremendous melodies and major hooks, and they are legion here. I really love the way Jack Tatum plays with melody taking it up or down on a dime, demanding attention. Pure love here.

1. Jeremy Messersmith – The Reluctant Graveyard, (independent) 79.80
I’ve had my eye on Mssr. Messersmith since his local (Minneapolis, represent!) breakout hit “Miracles” (2008), but I haven’t been taken with his records. I mean, I dig ‘em, but they didn’t grab me. Maybe they were … too folky and too similar to a myriad other singer-songwriter indie popsters. The Reluctant Graveyard demolishes my previous concerns. Messersmith is still a singer-songwriter indie popster, but he grabs a shitload of influences and merges then into a fookin incredibly diverse range of top of the universe pop songs. Yeah, he’s tapping into 60s garage, indie folk, modern indie music, orch pop, The Beatles and The Beach Boys; he does it excruciating well. These are songs that are so good your mind buzzes and your body moves. The best pop music is all about melody and hooks. Damn if there aren’t a million hooks and melodies that are so immediate, you are singing along by the second verse. The record is majorly economical with eleven songs clocking in at 33 minutes, which is such a perfect length. I must have played this record 1,047 times over the last two years. The songs are that strong, they never, ever get stale.

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