Pretty Goes with Pretty

My Listening Hours: January

I'm trying something new with these My Listening Hours posts in 2011: rather than a week of posts every three months—far too daunting to compose anymore—I'll trot out a much more abbreviated monthly post. Ideally I'll have written at length about most of these records already. At the three month mark I may still do a quarterly report of some sort... who knows.

I've ordered these by when I acquired them. This "month" actually stretches back to about mid-December—everything I've acquired since doing my year-end wrap-up. Without further ado...

Sam Prekop: Old Punch Card (2010)
An interesting excercise but not really a fulfilling listen. Review.

• Sam Prekop: Old Punch Card

Third Eye Foundation: The Dark (2010)
Singling out one track from this record does not do The Dark justice. It succeeds best as a whole work, listened to from beginning to end. Probably my favorite album of this month's bunch. Review.

• Third Eye Foundation: Anhedonia

Actress: Splazsh (2010)
There's probably a name for whatever genre Actress is working in—microhouse? dubstep?—but I don't keep up well enough with all the varieties of electronica to know for sure. At any rate Splazsh is a mostly great album that rewards multiple listens. Review.

• Actress: Maze

Kraftwerk: Autobahn (1974)
Despite my love of all things krautrock, Kraftwerk has been a longtime blind spot for me. Last year I started at the very beginning, picking up their four earliest records, most of which were spacey and aimless and featuring more organic instrumentation and composition. This is my first real taste of the Kraftwerk everyone means when they talk about Kraftwerk. The title track is, as anyone would tell you, spectacular. The rest is merely okay by comparison (it is, after all, hard to compare). Funny to me, though, that this gets as much praise as it does when other groups were making music as good (or better) than this at the same time. Fr'instance, Harmonia.

• Kraftwerk: Kometenmelodie 2

Brian Eno: Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (1974)
I've been slowly and steadily picking up various Brian Eno albums ever since finally getting around to Another Green World a couple of years go. I've begun with his early, pop-oriented albums, this being the last one I've come across. It's not as perfect as Here Come the Warm Jets, nor as bouncy as Before and After Science, nor as ambitious as Another Green World—but it's still pretty good. I'm eager to start moving into Eno's ambient albums. Suggestions on where exactly to start are welcome.

• Brian Eno: The Fat Lady Of Limbourg
  

Disappears: Lux (2010)
Tim Hecker: An Imaginary Country (2009)
Belong: October Language (2004)
As I perused Pitchfork's list of upcoming releases in 2011 (which I detailed here), one word kept jumping out at me: Kranky. Feeling a little drained on rock music, I felt a renewed attraction to the label that treated me to so many great albums years back when I did a better job of keeping up with ambient and space rock. All three of these acts have albums coming up any time now. Since I didn't know their stuff, I went back and sought out earlier releases from each. Well, turns out Disappears isn't space rock so much as a fairly noisy psychedelic act—which is fine! Actually I think Lux is a pretty good album—good enough for me to want to hear the next Disappears album. The Tim Hecker album, of these three, is the highlight. It's a really beautiful ambient album. I do have a couple of other tracks by him and I feel convinced now that I am a convert who will follow him for a long time. The Belong album is also quite nice—washes of distortion that feel more peaceful than noisy.

• Disappears: Marigold
• Tim Hecker: Borderlands
• Belong: I Never Lose, Never Really

Destroyer: Kaputt (2011)
I seem to be the only person on the internet who thinks this is a mostly terrible album. It has its redeeming qualities—the lyrics, for one—but I just can't stomach the soft rock genre Dan Bejar has chosen to take on. More about this record, and the soft rock trend, to come tomorrow. Anyway, here's one of the good songs.

• Destroyer: Poor In Love

Tennis: Cape Dory (2011)
A great story and a nice aesthetic but it only rises near greatness in spots. Not a bad record, but I think they need to become more assured songwriters. Review.

• Tennis: Seafarer
  

The Radio Dept.: Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002–2010 (2011)
There's still at least another disc's worth of miscellaneous Radio Dept. tracks that could be collected, and I'd happily pick that up too. Review.

• The Radio Dept.: You And Me Then

Iron & Wine: Kiss Each Other Clean (2011)
I made the mistake of playing my brilliant wife this album's worst track, "Big Burned Hand," before she heard anything else. Now Kiss Each Other Clean is dead to her. I would entreat her to give it another chance were it not for my own mixed feelings. There are some great songs here, such as "Godless Brother in Love," but it's also accurate to say this is Iron & Wine's worst album. I'll have a fuller review in a few days.

• Iron & Wine: Godless Brother In Love
  

Intro to Tennis, Indie Rock Edition

Tennis is the one and only sport that I like—and as you might imagine, when I like something I really like it. The bummer though is that I really only know two or three people who like the sport. And when it comes to the blog/facebook/tumblr/twitter-verse, all my proclamations and exclamations about tennis may as well be shouted into the void. So in an attempt to convince you, my indie rock obsessed readers, that tennis can be as epic, elegant, and engrossing as anything a band from Brooklyn can do, I wanted to speak to you in your language. As we head into the second week of the Australian Open, I want to introduce you to each of the players on the men's side and explain the matchups as you would understand them: as a battle of the bands. Once you're through this post you'll know exactly who to root for the rest of the week.

1. ROGER FEDERER [1] vs LLEYTON HEWITT [22]
aka RADIOHEAD vs BUILT TO SPILL

Roger Federer, like Radiohead, dominates the conversation with every move he makes. He's won more slams than any other man in history and can't really do any wrong with fans or critics. Even people who don't like him have major respect. When he has a bad year he gets major shit—much like the drubbing certain quarters like to give Hail to the Thief—even though pretty much every tennis player alive would aspire to have a "bad Federer year" (in 2008, aka the tragic fall of Federer, he only made it to every major semi-final the US Open).

Lleyton Hewitt, meanwhile, is Built to Spill. His greatest years are behind him and you still root for him, but if you're honest with yourself you don't really expect much more than solid playing.

2. FERNANDO VERDASCO [9] vs NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO [6]
aka BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE vs JUSTICE

Verdasco is Broken Social Scene—a totally solid player capable of utter transcendence, though not consistently. His You Forgot It in People moment came in an epic five-set Australian Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal last year; he lost, but he gained the respect of anyone who saw it.

Davydenko is Justice. He's a mystery man hiding in plain sight, and his style of playing is not like everyone else (he defends much better than he attacks). He's easy to overlook but he's a total master at what he does. If this were a Pitchfork best-of-the-year list Davydenko would be that record from outside the indie rock genre that sneaks into the top five. [ETA: fuck, I meant to compare him to Burial, not Justice. But in a way that just proves my point more.]

3. NOVAK DJOKOVIC [3] vs LUKASZ KUBOT
aka LCD SOUNDSYSTEM vs INLETS

There was a moment a couple years ago where it felt like Djokovic (aka LCD Soundsystem) was going to give Federer and Nadal a run for their money as best in the world. He came really close—winning the 2008 Australian Open was a good start—and he hasn't totally left that conversation. In the meantime, while people are waiting for him to assert himself again—something he's totally capable of doing—a whole bunch of other guys have entered that conversation.

As for Kubot, I've never heard of the guy. Nor have I heard of Inlets.

4. JO-WILFRIED TSONGA [10] vs NICOLAS ALMAGRO [26]
aka BATTLES vs ANNUALS

 

 

Tsonga's "Atlas" came in 2008, when he upset Nadal to make it into the Australian Open final. He'd been around before that, but the event felt like a debut from out of nowhere. Despite a quiet 2009, Tsonga is a player to be reckoned with and his best stuff is still ahead of him. Almagro is Annuals: totally solid and good but not anyone people talk about much.

5. ANDY RODDICK [7] vs FERNANDO GONZALEZ [11]
aka WILCO vs WOLF PARADE

Roddick is Wilco. There was a time, a few years ago, where he was among the most exciting, unstoppable players in the game. Today he's still super compelling (see last year's Wimbledon final), and you still get excited for his matches, but there's an aura of predictability about him—other, younger, more exciting and daring players are out there, getting you excited the way he used to. Gonzalez is Wolf Parade—similar to the way Almagro is Annuals, but Gonzalez is more potent and potentially more shocking and inspiring.

6. MARIN CILIC [14] vs JUAN-MARTIN DEL POTRO [4]
aka GIRLS vs DIRTY PROJECTORS

Marin Cilic is the buzziest player of the tournament, hence the Girls tag. He's a young up-and-comer who  is expected to make a splash this year. Maybe he won't go all the way to the final, but he'll get people talking about him (if they aren't already). Del Potro is sort of the same but at a higher level. 2008–2009 was his buzz time—sort of his Rise Above period—but since winning the US Open over Federer last year, he's clearly into Bitte Orca territory.

7. ANDY MURRAY [5] vs JOHN ISNER [32]
aka GRIZZLY BEAR vs NO AGE

Like Del Potro, Murray (aka Grizzly Bear) is a player who has positioned himself to contend for the top spot. Like Grizzly Bear, Murray is humorless and sometimes polarizing—and possibly overhyped (he hasn't won a slam, after all). John Isner, aka No Age, is on a level similar to Cilic—lots of buzz but not much of a career yet to back it up. He might be the real deal; he might disappear in couple of years.

8. IVO KARLOVIC vs RAFAEL NADAL [2]
aka SUNNO))) vs  ARCADE FIRE



Ivo Karlovic, nicknamed "Dr. Ivo," intimidates everyone. He's 6'10" and has a monstrous serve that terrifies anyone who faces it. The thing is, that's kinda all he has. Last year I read an interview with him where he said something to the effect of "okay, I have one thing I do really well; but if I win by only doing that one thing, doesn't that make me some kind of genius?" So, SunnO))).

Nadal, meanwhile, is the Arcade Fire. At times he can feel like the greatest player in the world—sort of like how you might call Funeral the best album of the decade until someone reminds you about Kid A. And then you're like, "oh yeah, duh." Like the Arcade Fire Nadal succeeds because of an overwhelmingly earnest desire to win, as opposed to Federer's effortless elegance which simply makes him the greatest without seeming like he's trying. There will always be a place for Nadal in the annals of tennis history, though I'd place bets on his career ending earlier than you'd like it to.