it now - Inflatable Ferret

Vol 3 No. 1 ///// Jan 2011
TOP 50
ALBUMS
OF 2010
THE WORD
OF CHUCK
(THE) PROPHET
10 LESSONS
Learned in
Film in 2010
80 Minutes
of Music for
RESOLUTION
BREAKERS
TRE NT REZ NO R AN
D ATT ICU S ROS S
TH E SO CI AL NE TW
OR K
LETTER
FROM
THE EDITOR
CONTENTS
Vol 3 No. 1 ///// Jan 2011
FEATURE
HAPPY NEW YEAR
to everyone, and thanks for reading. We decided to step
it up this year and list 50 albums as opposed to last year’s
25. The result: way more work for all parties involved. But
I’m glad we did it, because I think it is important to give
as comprehensive a list as possible without sacrificing
quality, something I think we did quite successfully. As
for the timing, we didn’t think it was necessary to rush
things and get the list in before January; after all, this
music is not going anywhere. In order to tackle this behemoth task, we enlisted the help of music writers old
and new, including past contributors David Amidon and
Doug Knickrehm and new writer Asif Siddiqi, a space expert (and in my book, a music expert as well—that’s right,
we’ve got a double expert on board) and history professor
at Fordham University.
Also inside is an interview with Chuck Prophet, one
of the most underrated singer-songwriters in the business, and 80 minutes of downer music for resolution
breakers (that means you). Lastly, IF’s film buffs (somehow I was thrown into that mix?) review ten important
lessons we learned in film in 2010. No reviews this issue,
but rest assured that we will be back in action next issue.
The cover idea came from Hans Larsen and Ryan Waring
and was brilliantly executed, as always, by K-Friend, the
layout queen.
That’s about all for me. Goodnight and good luck, and
IF sends our most sincere wishes for a happy, healthy 2011.
james passarelli
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TOP ALBUMS 20
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Check out IF's top 50
albums from last year
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INTERVIEW 14
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A delightful sit-down with
singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet
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10 important lessons the year
in film taught us in 2010
PLAYLIST
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80 Minutes of Music to sulk to after
a broken New Years resolution
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long,
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OUR STAFF
ISSUE CONTRIBUTORS
Editor-in-Chief
Copy Editing
James Passarelli
Pat Passarelli
Ainsley Thedinger
Layout
Kathryn Freund
Featured Writers
David Amidon
Taylor Catalana
Rob DeStefano
James Emerson
Kathryn Freund
Bryant Kitching
Doug Knickrehm
James Passarelli
Asif Siddiqi
Quin Slovek
Ryan Waring
Web Design
Greg Ervanian
Rob Schellenberg
Photography
James Passarelli
Allmoviephoto.com
Oregonlive.com
Special Thanks To
Sarah Sullivan

We gladly welcome
any criticism or
suggestions. If you
have any ideas for
the magazine, or if
you would like to be
a part of it, please
contact us at: info@
inflatableferret.com.
CONTACT US
via Email
via Interweb
GENERAL INQUIRIES
[email protected]
WEBSITE
www.inflatableferret.com
TOM KUTILEK
[email protected]
HANS LARSEN
[email protected]
JAMES PASSARELLI
[email protected]
RYAN WARING
[email protected]
04
Copyright © 2011 Inflatable Ferret
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06FEATURE
IT'S 2011.
Some say film is dead. There
was no American remake of The
White Ribbon this year. DiCaprio
is back, but not with Cameron.
The Full House movie isn’t even
in talks yet; can we push for 3D?
We take a look back at ten lessons we learned through film
this past year.
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Foreign Markets
5 OTHER FOREIGN
COMPETITORS
3
Mother
Joon-ho Bong (Korea)
Undertow
Javier Fuentes-León
(Columbia)
The Maid
Sebastián Silva (Chile)
Ajami
British director Chris Morris must
have a great sense of humor (and
balls of brass) to actually make
Delilah
3
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Warwick Thornton
(Australia)
One of the biggest downsides to
the year in movies is the burgeoning concept of the multiple-decadeafter-the-fact sequel. I blame George
Lucas for opening up the re-treading
floodgates with his prequels and Lucas and Spielberg for keeping them
open with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
No matter how much fanboys
gripe, the new Star Wars movies did
sell a lot of merchandise, and Hollywood noticed. To a much lesser
extent, the Robert Rodriguez-produced Predators and Joseph Kosinski’s Tron: Legacy follow suit. Both
are re-imaginings without the imaginativeness. They hide the fact that
they have nothing new to contribute
by offering something slicker than
the originals.
We get it: special effects technology has made great strides since
the 80s. Now the challenge is to find
5
Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani
(Isreal/Palestine)
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Four Lions
a slapstick comedy about suicide
bombers work. Though critically acclaimed (surprise surprise), this age
of terror satire unfortunately has
had trouble finding a distributor in
the United States.
Enter the Void
The new Gaspar Noé film Enter the
Void looks so upsettingly, unnervingly trippy that it almost dares you
to watch it. Shot from the perspective of a ghost floating through Tokyo,
most descriptions of the film compare it to a neon-colored out-of-body
experience. Far out, dude.
Okay, so better documentaries have
come out this year, but the story of
“Winnebago Man” Jack Rebney’s
internet infamy seems like a fascinating character study of a man’s response to accidental fame. Besides,
there’s something inherently fascinating about surly old codgers. The
moral of this YouTube parable: now
we can all achieve fame, but do we
really want to?
Valhalla Rising
In 2009 Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn hit the art house
scene with the prison biopic Bronson, but this year he took his testosterone-fueled style one step further
with Valhalla Rising. In this brutal
historical odyssey, Danish actor
Mads Mikkelson of this year’s Coco
Channel and Igor Stravinsky plays a
mysterious warrior named One Eye
heading to the edge of the universe,
aka America. QS
Inertia and the Studios
0
4
tious productions such as A Prophet,
Meserine, and Oliver Assayas’ Carlos (a German co-production). The
land of Godard and Truffaut currently
seems to be diversifying—from the
art house, films like Catherine Breillat’s fairy-tale Bluebeard, but on the
more epic end of the spectrum, Carlos follows in the footsteps of Speilberg’s Munich. A Prophet, meanwhile, one of 2010’s best films, follows
those of Scorcese’s Goodfellas.
I’ve fallen into a common trap
by only focusing on the over-studied
French in a year when the Swedes
have had more influence on Hollywood due to the Girl Who Played with
Fire films, currently being adapted
by American director David Fincher,
and the Let the Right One In remake
(Let Me In) by Matt Reeves, who
stayed true to the original’s atmosphere and subtitles. QS
imports are
not always
hands down
better than
domestics.”
2010 was full of films that, for
lack of a better term, I’ll call “under
the radar.” By this I mean the miscellaneous, the oddities and all those
other films that barely blip onto
our collective movie conscience.
Though I’ve done my damndest to
keep up, here are four films from
2010’s miscellany that I’ve been dying to see: one comedy, one acid trip,
one strange documentary and a flick
about Vikings.
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A Prophet
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Winnebago Man
Enter the Void
“ Unlike beer,
You can safely imply from my choice
of topic that I would encourage people to brave the subtitles and see
more foreign films, but don’t do so indiscriminately. Unlike beer, imports
are not always hands down better
than domestics. I realized this over
the summer while watching The Girl
on the Train, a new French movie that
seemed to be entirely about a highly
unlikable young lady roller-skating
around Paris—oh, and a non-existent
neo-Nazi attack. If there’s any panEuropean (or at least Scandinavian)
trend in film this year, it’s a sudden
interest in some form of neo-Nazism:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo sequels (Sweden), Brotherhood (Denmark) and the tacky Nazi-zombie flick
Dead Snow (Norway).
Also apparent is how little good
I’ve heard about Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s newest, the cartoonish comedy
Micmacs. Since 2001 his Amélie has
practically become required viewing for hipsters and Francophiles,
but Micmacs was apparently such a
flop that it barely made it to our side
of the Atlantic. Yet Jeunet, no matter
how well loved, is not a one-man film
industry. The French have had a solid
year of exports due to larger, ambi-
Through the Cracks: Little Known Gems
something new. Perhaps the new
Tron by sheer force of its technological developments, and for the apparent “newness” of 3D, is the most forgivable example. Instead of picking
on the well-intentioned first-timer,
Kosinski, but I would rather wag my
finger at Oliver Stone. Wall Street
2: Money Never Sleeps struggles so
mightily to be timely that it somehow
does a disservice to the insight and
timelessness of the original.
Yes, Stone did try to justify the
need for such a sequel by ostensibly offering a comment on the 2008
financial meltdown, but instead of
a fully formed portrait of contemporary greed, we got Josh Brolin as
a cardboard shark, Michael Douglas as a mushy shadow of Gordon
Gekko and Shia LaBeouf wandering
around, looking like a teenager that
snuck into an executive board meeting. If anyone needed reminding,
Oliver Stone is a
hack. I’d rather
see him find new
ways to be disappointing than
to see him maim
his own material.
These movies are a phenomenal waste of time, particularly
for the directors involved. Retreading old material and callously capitalizing on the success of the past
and insipid 1980s nostalgia is not a
worthwhile endeavor, but in a Hollywood market that is reluctant to risk
large budgets on new material, this
phenomena is becoming increasingly commonplace. It will take a lot
more flops than Predators or the new
Wall Street to convince Hollywood to
lessen its stranglehold on our fond
memories of the past. QS
Michael Douglas and Shia LeBeouf in
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps
09
feature
while contributing nothing. Speaking of gimmicks, Devil was released
in the fall. Its premise is simple:
strangers are trapped in an elevator;
one of them is Satan in disguise. The
question is answered in the final act
after a meaningless eighty minutes
of cheap jolts and a lecture about
how people go to hell for their sins.
Though the “devil” is revealed, the
hunt is far from fulfilling and lacks
any resemblance of sense. Shyamalan served as producer and creator
of said story, promising his droogs
that it is the first in what will be a
series of similar films classified as
the Night Chronicles. Remember, M.
Night, pride is one of those deadly
seven… RD
A Regal Entertainment Theater
in New York was chosen at random.
This is its pricing for non-matinee
adult tickets: 2D $11.50; 3D $15.50;
3D IMAX $18.00. To see a movie in
3D IMAX, a fool would pay about
57% more of the original ticket price
(Tron: Legacy is culpable for this
specific bitterness). Are production
companies using this technology to
supplement their stories or to enrich
their visuals? When used effectively, 3D technology can enhance the
depth of field, providing perceived
differentiation between the foreground and background. Storytelling is timeless; 3D should serve as
an augmentation and not as camouflage. Of the twenty-three 3D fiction
productions in 2010, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes has an average
43.7% approval rating (that is to say,
43.7% of the reviews were positive).
Since a quantitative approach may
be misleading, we can return to the
fundamental questions to put 3D’s
contributions into perspective.
“ It’s
becoming
a trend
to slap
on a 3D
conversion
and call
it a movie.”
CASE #1: My Soul to Take
CASE #2: Tron: Legacy
Wes Craven’s crash back into film
resulted in one of the most critically
unfavorable movies of the year and of
his career. Its story had the makings
of an urban legend with a twist: a presumed deceased ripper possesses
the souls of teenagers born the same
day as his earthly departure. Craven
had shocked audiences before with
his oriental-inspired dream mythology, American suburbia, and blend
of horror and humor in movies like
A Nightmare on Elm Street. My Soul
to Take failed miserably by creating
stock characters born from the film’s
unimaginative and clichéd blueprint;
the visuals were just as flat. Having
seen this in theaters, I honestly cannot recall a single scene that used 3D
technology. The movie was given the
alleged extra dimension in post-production, but for what purpose? As I
adjusted my glasses and periodically
widened my eyes to make up for the
diminished brightness, I was only reminded of the movie’s deficiencies. It
achieved nothing.
Speaking bluntly, the script was atrocious. Its characters enter into a digital world known as The Grid, which
isn’t unlike visiting another planet or
stepping into John Malkovich’s mind.
The Grid should be unworn territory,
stimulating in every turn; instead,
the characters are confined to few
locations. The Grid is never explored,
and to add to the frustration, characters deliver verbose explanations of
the location that signify only hot air.
Where is the sense of danger? Where
is the intrigue? Here is where 3D
could have served a purpose, by inviting the viewers into an optically new
and invigorating world, but the problem with this world, the many problems with this world, come before the
application of 3D.
The Social Network, 127 Hours, The King’s Speech, Black Swan, and Winter’s
Bone combine powerful storytelling with slick visuals, making them some of
the year’s best films. It’s about the tale, the characters, the stakes, and the
cinematography. It’s becoming a trend to slap on a 3D conversion and call it a
movie. Other atrocities of 2010 included, but were not limited to The Last Airbender, Saw 3D, Clash of the Titans, and Gulliver’s Travels. 3D has not enhanced
these movies, structurally or visually. The problems are rooted in all the aspects of filmmaking that preceded the 3D decision. Stop focusing on our wallets! Ignore this false innovation! Learn a lesson from Fincher or Aronofsky!
The technology has not been perfected, and for the time being, it appears to
serve as a scheme that impedes good filmmaking. RD
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M. Night Shyamalan's Devil
0606
Megalomania and delusions
of grandeur are both symptoms.
Though the writer/director may have
some theories on what killed the Arkansas blackbirds, the world doesn’t
necessarily need to hear them. The
Last Airbender, a live-action version
of the popular Nickelodeon cartoon
series, rotted in theaters this summer, educating moviegoers and critics alike in what encompasses a bad
film. With its perfectly incoherent
plot, overemphasizing dialogue, and
bewildering direction, the first installment of a rumored trilogy is void
of any intentional entertainment. His
past duds had a recognizable aesthetic; this had a 3D afterthought
that reaped the monetary benefits
All Waterworld Needed Was Some 3D
06
M. Night Shyamalan May Have Syphilis
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confidence have separated it from
the bunch. The family consists of
two lesbian parents (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) who were
artificially inseminated with the
same man's sperm, each eventually
birthing a child. Already this family isn’t the Cunninghams of Happy
02
Imagine if families were as
simple as Katherine Heigl's typecast. Goodbye meddlesome ottoman and welcome modernity; this is
the 21st century. Lisa Cholodenko's
dramedy, The Kids Are All Right,
delivers strong performances and
raunchy humor, but its tactility and
3
Annette Bening and
Julianne Moore in
The Kids Are All Right
6
Days, but that’s not the film’s focus.
To its credit, the difference in birth
mothers or the allegiance to one's
own mother never becomes a point
of contention among the half siblings. Likewise, the mothers treat
the children as perfect equals, and
a cheap device for a plot point and
strife is thankfully avoided. What's
also never questioned is the notion
of same sex parents. Come on, don't
we want to see a "what does daddy
do for a living" classroom scene?
Luckily the script doesn't waste its
audience's time. The family is depicted as very real. They love unconditionally. And they suffer from the
same shortcomings as the next family. Eureka, a Modern Family!
Modern Families that strayed
from the norm were seen elsewhere
in 2010: Cyrus, Somewhere, Easy A,
Winter's Bone, The Joneses.
Additionally, worst families of
2010 include Splice and Life as We
Know It. RD
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Familial Normalcy
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Milton Moses Ginsberg
Joaquin Phoenix in
I'm Still Here
Grey Gardens (1975)
Ellen Hovde
Man Bites Dog (1992)
Rémy Belvaux
John Travolta in
From Paris with Love
in Shutter Island (including one that
wouldn’t have been out of place in
The Shining) were among the movie’s
high points. Both filmmakers would
do well to learn from Darren Aronofsky’s theatrically magnificent Black
Swan. (And while we’re at it, refer the
reality-challenged Natalie Portman
to that shrink, too.) JE
How exactly does one shake one’s
moneymaker? You might want to
start by asking DreamWorks, Pixar,
Universal, or any of the handful of
studios that capitalized on the latest
animated film boom. Boom? More
like H-bomb. Despicable Me, How to
Train Your Dragon, Tangled, and Shrek
Forever After each collected well over
$350 million in revenue, while summer
smash hit Toy Story 3 pocketed well
over a billion, rocketing it to the fifth
spot on the all-time highest-grossing
films list. 3D or otherwise, 2010’s animated film lineup took the torch from
recent crowd and critic favorites Up
and WALL-E, and they don’t seem to
be slowing down anytime soon, at
least not in the cash department. JP
WORLDWIDE
MOVIE GROSSES
Toy Story 3
$1.06 billion
Shrek Forever After
$750 million
09
what is and isn’t. Nolan’s latest highconcept thriller could have used a
script doctor to liven up his exposition-happy characters—just not
the same one who dreamed up the
inadequate wrapping-up of Shutter
Island’s conclusion. Nolan could also
use some cinematographic pointers
from Scorsese’s D.P. Robert Richardson: DiCaprio’s hallucinations
Kids Are All Rright
0808
Somebody get the number of a
good shrink—Leo DiCaprio could
use one. In 2010, DiCaprio let loose
and indulged his taste for playing
troubled widowers with a loosening
grip on reality: he starred in Scorsese’s Shutter Island and Christopher
Nolan’s Inception, two aggressive
films that played (and didn’t exactly
win) with audiences’ perceptions of
JT didn’t have a monopoly on
over-the-hill actors playing triggerhappy wackjobs in 2010, by the way.
Mel Gibson lent his psychopathic
fury to Edge of Darkness, an adaptation of the 1985 BBC miniseries
of the same name starring the late
07
10
Leo Who?
If you do not recognize the above
reference, do everything in your
power to keep it that way. Just know
that it is irrefutable evidence that
John Travolta has been both washed
up and insane since at least 2000.
This partially explains why Travolta
would accept the roll of special agent
0606
8
when edited into a narrative. Whether fact or fiction, the realism blended
with filmic devices entertains, occasionally educates, and almost always
provokes thought. Fiction films of the
past, using this socially obsessed
and media hungry mode of constant
surveillance, encouraged similar reactions. This year’s “documentaries”
hint at how cinéma vérité might have
evolved to meet society’s contemporary interests, yet more importantly,
its fears. RD
Despicable Me
$540 million
How to Train Your Dragon
$495 million
Tangled
$395 million
01
Coming Apart (1969)
0101
David Holzman
Bob Peck. Forest Whitaker teamed
up with Jude Law to reclaim future
stingy organ recipients in the mindnumbing Repo Men. Of course, the
combined egregiousness of these
cinematic offenses pales in the face
of the shameless exploits of The Expendables, a movie (not a film) that
advertised the obsolescence of its
cast, which consisted of (among
others) Dolph Lundgren, Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenneger, “Stone
Cold” Steve Austin, Terry Crews, and
writer/director Sylvester Stalone.
This lesson, however, has nothing to do with the quality of these
features, something so readily apparent it would be superfluous to focus on. Instead it is counsel for all
irrelevant actors. A career jumpstart
is simple; all you need is a firearm
(preferably automatic) and a few
quality weeks with an open can of
lead-based paint. JP
02
Charlie Wax in
Pierre
Morel’s
trash action film,
From Paris With
Love. (Probably
worse than the
actual film was
Travolta’s bald
head, hoop earring, and obsidian spray paint
goatee.)
But
why exactly any
producer would
get behind such
films? That is far
beyond me.
Diary (1967)
With I’m Still Here, Exit Through
the Gift Shop, and Catfish, 2010 tested
audiences’ faith in supposed nonfictional filmmaking. Most people lost
interest in Joaquin Phoenix’s documentation of his music career by the
time it was revealed as a hoax, but
Catfish managed to pick up the pieces and incite new questions about
the validity of storytelling. These are
three movies about three exceedingly different people who desire and
strive to capture life’s moments. The
mundane becomes the extraordinary
12
feature
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3
ENJOYED THESE
MOVIES?
Check out:
While We Were Still Learning
How to SPELL OUR NAMES,
John Travolta Was Making Shitty Movies
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Fact or Fiction?
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14INTERVIEW
Chats with...
CHUCK
PROPHET
Interview: James Passarelli
I DON'T
THINK
I could live with myself if I
introduced Chuck Prophet in
the usual manner, recounting
every last detail of his worn
leather jacket and his whatever-style boots, marveling
over every last subtle idiosyncrasy. But I have to give
you some sense of who he is.
Born and raised in California,
Prophet is one of those peppered veterans whose relative anonymity is misleading. How could someone this
great go unnoticed for two
and a half decades? That one
I cannot answer.
My introduction to Prophet came by way of the liner
notes to Warren Zevon’s 2000
album, Life’ll Kill Ya. He is
credited as a guitar player on
“For My Next Trick I’ll Need
a Volunteer,” one of Zevon’s
most wonderfully sarcastic
tunes. And there are a lot of
similarities between the two
singer-songwriters, namely
smart, straightforward lyrics,
irresistible blues pop hooks,
and a reverence for the rock
legends of the past.
I saw Prophet play for the
first time at New York’s Bowery Electric, where his wife,
Stephanie Finch, opened
(they play in each other’s
bands). Prophet’s keen songwriting capabilities translate
as well into an intimate live
setting as well as anyone’s.
He had a command of the
crowd that only Bono could
match, and infectious tunes
like the accelerated “Hot
Talk” enticed individuals to
dance who probably never
should have stepped foot on
a dance floor of any kind. The
trans-seasonal
“Summertime Thing” redefined “feel
good,” “You Did” reminded
us all who really put the bomp
in the bomp-shooby-doobybomp, and a cover of the late
Alex Chilton’s “Bangkok”
gave us a faint idea of how
Prophet’s creative chops
came to be.
I met up with Prophet before the set for the most enjoyable interview I have ever
conducted.
CHUCK
PROPHET
Inflatable Ferret: You’ve been to
WFUV, right?
Chuck Prophet: Yeah, Fordham University...Rita [Houston].
IF: Exactly. And when ¡Let Freedom
Ring! Came out, Rita said something
like, “I wish I lived in a world where
people lined up to buy the new Chuck
Prophet record.” And I was just wondering if you wished the same thing.
CP: Well, I wish we lived in a mono
culture. I wish we lived in a culture
where people lined up to get anything. Everything’s just splintered,
and that’s cool and everything, but I
like that shared experience. I’m old
enough to remember when every
Stones record came out. There were
things like when everybody experienced it together. But things have
splintered so much now that I don’t
think anybody really watches the
same television or, I don’t know. I’m
a fan of pop culture, so when I tap
into something like Mad Men, I really
enjoy that there’s a ritual aspect—
watching it on Sunday at a certain
time. I just like that, and I wish there
were more things like that. I suppose
people still line up at midnight to get
a Harry Potter book. How long can
they keep that going? I mean, I gave
up about 200 pages into the first one.
That’s about my limit—200 pages of
anything.
[laughter]
IF: Despite being relatively obscure,
you still have a strong following, and
it seems like you have received a lot
of support from great musicians. You
toured with Lucinda Williams, for instance.
16
interview
CP: Yeah, she was really helpful.
What happened was I started making these records for British labels
and all the emphasis was on going to
England and playing there and playing where they could sell records and
actually get paid. And they would
license it to North America, and it
would get further and further from
the source. So we never really made
much of an effort to conquer North
America. Then we got into a period
where a few records went by, and we
Photo by
James Passarelli
“ I always refer to it as the
best paid internship I ever
had. Warren could be real
nasty, you know, but so witty
at the same time that you
almost didn’t want to miss it.
[laughs] You just hoped
it wasn’t aimed at you.”
figured if we ignored it long enough it
would go away. But it didn’t go away,
so it wasn’t until about 2002 that Lucinda took us out on a summer tour,
and we got on an American label.
And then we started to get our foot
in the door, and we got some early
supporters like FUV and KGSR in
Austin and WMNF in Tampa and
KEXP in Seattle. Just a few—enough
that we could tie a few gigs together,
and that was how we started touring
the States. It wasn’t because the music was willfully obscure or anything
like that. It’s just the way it was.
IF: Warren Zevon is my all-time favorite.
CP: Yeah, me too.
"IF: And that’s how I found out about
you, when I was looking through the
credits of Life’ll Kill Ya.
CP: Yeah, and he was a really cantankerous guy. The thing is that he was a
great writer and a colorful guy—sort
of like the Hunter S. Thompson of
rock ‘n’ roll. But you didn’t want to
get in his bulls eye when he was in a
foul mood. [laughs] But it was a really interesting session. I really didn’t
play much on that record, because
what he wanted to do was rework his
demos. So I was just lurking around
in case they needed some guitar replaced or something. I always refer
to it as the best paid internship I ever
had. Warren could be real nasty, you
know, but so witty at the same time
that you almost didn’t want to miss
it. [laughs] You just hoped it wasn’t
aimed at you. You also didn’t want to
be around when he ran out of Mountain Dew. I never understood how
that worked—he would come to the
studio in the morning with a hefty
bag—like Santa Claus—empty all
these cans into the refrigerator, and
then he would drink Mountain Dew
all day. And around three, four, five
in the afternoon, he would run out.
Then he would just sort of collapse
17
interview
Photo by
Eye Magazine
“ I always tell
and start complaining these migraines.
And after a couple days, you start to think,
“Maybe it has something to do with your
case-a-day Mountain Dew habit, I don’t
know.” But it was a great experience.
They don’t make them like that anymore.
CP: Yeah, Tina—forever.
IF: So I thought that was funny that you
guys work together too. What’s that like?
people that if you
shook an orange tree
in Orange County,
five guitar players
would fall out.” IF: And how did that come about?
CP: Well, I worked a couple times with
the producers, Sean Slade and Paul
Kolderie. So they brought me on board.
IF: And another interesting celebrity
experience you had was on Live at Daryl’s House.
Stephanie Finch: It was kind of inevitable.
CP: It requires a sense of humor on her part.
[laughs]
IF: When did you meet?
SF: Well, in the late 80’s, I was dating his
best friend. So, a little scandalous, but we
all survived, and he was the best man at our
wedding. And that’s when we started playing music together—around 1990.
IF: And that was around when you [Chuck]
came out with your first solo album.
CP: Oh, Daryl Hall, yeah.
IF: And when was that? Two thousand…?
CP: I think maybe 2007 or something. Yeah,
I think that he had gone to South by Southwest, and they were supposed to pair him
up with somebody, and it went south. And
I guess they just went on Myspace and just
clicked on things, and he was like, “yeah,
that sounds cool.” So they called me.
I tried to get him to do a David Bowie
song, but his musical director, T-Bone, who
has since passed away, was like, “Daryl’s
not going to.” Because I guess he and David
[puts his fists together]. Wish I could have
learned more about that. But it was great. I
think what was really interesting was that
Daryl is a really refined guy, like Tina Turner
or somebody.
IF: He’s really into wine, isn’t he?
CP: He’s into wine. He’s got some house in
Vermont that’s on the historic registry. He
was telling me about some cherry wood
Brazilian knobs that are true to the original
that he’s restoring. Well [snaps], the minute
somebody in the band makes a mistake—
and we’re doing these four part harmonies,
and he’s so in command with that doo-wop
stuff having come from a street corner from
Philly—he was like, “What the fuck, mothafucka, what the fuck?! We had it before—it
was fuckin’ beautiful!” [laughs] And, you
know, I thought, “Will the real Daryl please
stand up,” you know. He had such command
over the group’s singing. It was fantastic to
be a part of that.
18
interview
They always did it acoustic, and I
brought an electric guitar. And T-Bone told
me later that a few episodes later Daryl said,
“Why can’t I play the electric like Chuck?”
[laughs] But we had a lot of fun, and I kind
of won him over because I really know Hall
& Oates having been someone who always
listened to the radio. We learned the song,
and he was a little bit…cool. And somebody said, “So how are we gonna end this?”
And I said, “Well, we gotta have the Darylisms.” And he’s like, “Oh yeah? You got it.”
Because every Hall & Oates song, if you
listen, at the end of the song he does a vocal thing that’s always different. They’re not
the same—it’s not like American Idol. So
at the end of “Summertime Thing” he was
singing “OooooOOOooo, help me, Ronda,”
totally off the cuff, and that’s where he’s so
light on his feet and such a musical dude.
So I think you can see how thrilled I am on
it. He’s great, man—he’s just such a musical guy, and it’s neat that he’s found a way
to keep himself interested in what he’s doing. Because I guess with all those hits you
could find yourself on the Treadmill of Horror playing all those hits. And now he sort
of invented this, and obviously it’s not about
the money—it’s just on the Internet. So that
was a great experience for me.
IF: And you live in California now?
CP: Yeah.
CP: Yeah, we had some songs, and we went
in and cut them over a weekend practically.
This lable in England put it out, and it was
pretty lo-fi.
IF: You have a ton of albums that I was looking for. How would I go about finding some
of the earlier ones?
Photo by
Oregonlive.com
IF: And is that where you’ve lived your
whole life?
IF: ¡Let Freedom Ring! you recorded in Mexico. How did that come about?
CP: Yeah, I grew up in Orange County, and
I have been in San Francisco since college.
CP: Well, when I first wrote those songs,
they were all what I referred to as “political
songs for non-political people.” And then I
got it in my head that it would be really great
to record this record somewhere outside
the United States and get some perspective. Then I learned a friend of mine had
learned a friend of mine had resurfaced in
Mexico City—he’s a recording engineer.
So, I thought, hell, I’ll go down there. So we
found a studio that was totally state of the
art—at one time. Maybe like 1958 or so.
[Mexico City] is a really energized
placed, much like New York. You step on the
sidewalk and you just feel it vibrating under
your feet. And I figured if we could get some
of that to stick to the tape then we might
have something. So it turned out to be a real
adventure.
IF: And do you think that has had a profound impact on the way you write music?
CP: Ummm, I don’t know. I learned a lot
from records, but I definitely learned a lot
of the way I played guitar from where I grew
up and the fact that it was just that kind of
place. I always tell people that if you shook
an orange tree in Orange County, five guitar players would fall out. So I definitely
think that was part of it—music was in the
air. And then I was also lucky enough to be
there when a lot of stuff happened. I saw an
early Dead Kennedys gig, and I saw some
of the last of the glam rock shows in Hollywood. My older sister was kind of off into
that. I was more of a fan originally, but when
punk rock came along I thought, “This is
something I could do.”
IF: Did you get into the Mexican music
scene at all?
CP:That’s another reason I went down there.
Prior to the internet, if you were a Mexican
kid, your only exposure to American music
would be through MTV. Maybe you might
know about Eminem or Rage Against the
Machine or Nirvana or something, but you
wouldn’t be able to find the music that suits
your own personal weirdness or whatever.
Now, because of the internet, kids can seek
that stuff out, and there are all kinds of music exploding down there in these kind of
Montrealesque cardigan dandies, and then
you’ve got rockabilly bands and surf rock.
And it’s great.
IF: I was also going to ask about you and
your wife, Stephanie [who was also in the
room at the time]. Because one of our last
interviews was with Chris Frantz.
CP: Oh yeah.
IF: Because he has been working with his
wife—
CP: That’s just part of it. [smiles] That’s all
part of it, that you have to seek it out.
IF: The mono culture.
CP: Yeah.
SF: It’s hard to find those earlier ones, for
sure. Chuck says they were instantly collectible.
CP: And I’ll tell you a funny story. I spent a
lot of time with Alejandro Escovedo. And
the first record did come out on a New York
label called Homestead. I remember calling
the guy at the label asking for more records.
And he’s like, “Yeah, sorry it’s not doing
better. But I will tell you this—we’ve had a
lot of orders from Austin, Texas. We get reorders.” And years later I was touring with
Alejandro, and he was saying to somebody,
“You gotta buy Brother Aldo—that’s the
one you gotta buy!” And then Al went on to
say “When I worked at Waterloo Records, I
sold that CD to everybody who came in the
door.” So he was responsible. if
19
interview
20
's
Albums
2010
TOP
S RO SS
R AN D AT TI CU
TR EN T RE ZN O
E TW O R K
TH E S O C IA L N
50
OF
WORDS: David Amidon / Taylor Catalana / James Emerson / Kathryn Freund
Bryant Kitching / Doug Knickrehm / James Passarelli / Asif Siddiqi / Ryan Waring
Did
the decade end after 2009 or 2010?
I have a friend who swears that we have all been beginning
and ending our decade best lists a year too early. Let's be real,
though. Who really cares? Birds are dropping left and right.
Fish are dropping north and south. Penguins are even dropping
east and west. Homeless folks are the new Paris Hilton (not my
call). The world will probably/definitely end before 2012. Can
we take the year for what it's worth then? 2010 is 2010, and let's
please leave it at that. So whether are not you're anticipating a
decade-long list, get real. Each month is a precious gem as we
near that fateful day (12/21/12), and the fact that we're taking
the time to give you the full year in perspective should mean a
lot. A LOT! So without further ado, the Inflatable Ferret's Top
50 Albums of 2010…
TOP
50
22
top albums
49
48
41
EFFI BRIEST
Rhizomes
SUCKERS
Wild Smile
THE WALKMEN
Lisbon
LITTLE WOMEN
Throat
The first of a handful of stunning debuts
on our list, Rhizomes boasts the all-female band’s post-rock versatility. Hazy
surf rock guitars and galloping drums
work surprisingly well in Rhizomes’ bleak
milieu, and lead singer Kelsey Barrett’s
unoiled screeches compete with her eerie instrumental surroundings in a delightful struggle. JP
Describing Suckers’ melodies as swirling seems like just the kind of thing at
which the smug mandrill that graces this
album’s cover would scoff. But I’m hardpressed to find a more appropriate adjective. Maybe bubbling, or jovial, or, waylaying, or, better yet, simian. But for now, I’ll
stick with swirling and accept that colorful
bastard’s cold stare. JP
The Walkmen followed up 2008’s inspired
You & Me with the slightly dialed down
and mellow Lisbon. Tracks like “Stranded”
and “When Is Shovel Snow” showed the
group settling into a groove and refining
their new sound. In doing so,The Walkmen
emerged as one of the remaining relevant
bands from the post-punk boom in the
early 2000’s. BK
Little Women use instruments in ways that
Apollo never intended. In seven roman numerically named movements, the Brooklyn
quartet look to eliminate consonance from
their musical dictionary. Andrew Smiley’s
racing guitar and Darius Jones’ and Travis
Laplante’s shrill, contorting saxophones
make Ornette Coleman sound like David
Sanborn in the freest jazz I’ve ever heard.
Condemn this as shock-factor art jazz garbage if you will, but that won’t make me
stop loving it. JP
45
47
46
CHROMEO
Business Casual
ERYKAH BADU
New Amerykah Part II
Montreal’s most ductile duo pandered to
our deepest and most synthetic desires
this year with ten different, delectable
tracks ranging from nightclub romantic
extravagance (“When the Night Falls”)
to 80s-tinged manner manifestos (“Grow
Up”). Although, to be fair, any one of these
songs belongs in a nightclub. I might even
deem it Catchiest Album of the Year if I
didn’t think that would cheapen it. JP
Return of the Ankh is not a revolutionary album, and in that respect, it might be a disappointment to fans of Part I. But whenever
summer comes around the corner, it's "Get
Munny" banging out the box with the windows down, or "Strawberry Incense" winding down a night by the fire pit that will define Part II's legacy. Until those sunny days
come, I’ll listen anyway. This woman is by
far R&B’s most consistent gold mine. DA
The Portland eclectics built on the wild
success of 2008’s Furr, blending hazy folk
with pungent guitar riffs and playful keys.
Destroyer winds through various time
changes and styles without ever really settling down. And the brightest spot of the
musical bivouackers, as usual, is Eric Earley imparting inscrutable aphorisms like
“if you learn one thing from me, you better
guard your tongue like your enemy." JP
44
43
42
SEU JORGE & ALMAZ
Seu Jorge & Almaz
CURREN$Y
Pilot Talk II
DIE ANTWOORD
$O$
Seu Jorge released his first album with
backing band Almaz just a few months
after turning 40, and his maturity is wonderfully evident. Calm, collected, spacey
guitar lines meshed with lazy drum patterns form Jorge’s fresh take on samba,
and his deep, earthy voice emanates with
the same sultry power that earned him the
role of Knockout Ned in Fernando Meirelles’ brilliant film City of God. JP
Jet founder Curren$y wasted no time
releasing the sequel to the critically acclaimed Pilot Talk in November. PT1 was
marked by a more aggressive flow; the hot
Spitta returns to his roots of “sounding best
over beats that’s breezy” on PT2. Almost every song glides through the air, usually with
horns or a funky bass line. From beginning
to end, Curren$y takes the listener high into
the clouds for one of his best flights. DK
Irreverent, disgusting, and absolutely hilarious, Die Antwoord's $O$ is anything
but boring. You may be offended by their
lyrics, or embrace their cheeky, "fuck you,
haters” vibe. Either way, $O$ is an hour of
some of the most entertaining nonsense
you've ever heard. In the end, it may actually have a more thoughtful message for us
all, beneath its layers of glorified absurdity: stop taking life so fokken seriously. KF
BLITZEN TRAPPER
Destroyer of the Void
39
40
THESE NEW PURITANS
Hidden
Spelling Zone with an “X” isn’t
the only trick up these young
Brits’ sleeves. It is easy to see
any one of the band’s cited influences (RZA, Aphex Twin, Sonic
Youth, to name a few) in Hidden’s ADD-style shape shifting,
but neither ADD nor influence
dependence show in the lofty
sophomore album. Their sodic
implementation of raw percussion and varied orchestral arrangements are as new and
advanced as any, reaching a pinnacle of tasteful avant-garde. JP
37
38
SLEIGH BELLS
Treats
WOLF PARADE
Expo 86
JOANNA NEWSOM
Have One On Me
WARNING: Do not operate this album
near any fault lines, glass menageries,
black diamond ski trails, pregnant women,
active volcanoes, dogs, mountain passes,
chandeliers, sealed carbonated beverages
or chronic nose bleeders. Except for “Rill
Rill”. That’s a nice, little ditty. Regardless, Sleigh Bells’ groundshaking debut is
worth the imminent early hearing loss. RW
If Wolf Parade is really through, their music will most certainly survive. Their most
intergalactic album yet, Expo 86 ruffles
through starry synthesizers and ringing
guitar at a trotting pace. The steady drum
beat doesn’t take away Wolf Parade’s
trademark anxious energy, especially on
standouts “Ghost Pressure” and “What
Did My Lover Say (It Always Had to Be
This Way).” JP
In the most ambitious album of 2010, Joanna
Newsom took up more of our time than any
other artist this year. Her behemoth triple
LP threaded in and out of tales about horses,
jackrabbits, kingfishers, and about a dozen
other woodland creatures. The chamber-folk
opus displayed Newsom’s skills as a composer. Ranging from bouncy piano pop to
harp lullaby, HOOM contained some of the
most lush and rewarding songs of 2010. BK
36
MORNING BENDERS
Big Echo
Although it was a quiet year in the studio
for Grizzly Bear, bassist Chris Taylor had
a large hand in producing a number of
2010 indie successes. Big Echo is a large
splash for a band gaining a lot of attention. It’s tough to wipe that smile off your
face the second the crisp crackle of static
kicks off “Excuses,” one of the best tracks
of the year. RW
35
BIG BOI
Sir Lucious
Leftfoot:
The Son of
Chico Dusty
What does a reunion where the Dungeon
Family and the P-Funk clan come to town
sound like? A lot like Big Boi’s solo debut.
Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty
is so much more than half an Outkast album.
From the soul of “Turns Me On” to the swagger of the party track of the year “Shutterbug,” Daddy Fat Sax puts “Who’s Your Caddy” way back in the past. RW
23
top albums
34
GONJASUFI
A Sufi and a Killer
GonjaSufi sparked a hard discussion with A Sufi and a Killer. Lofidelity has been a movement in music for far longer than most
care to remember; birthed in the dark ages of recording technology as the only option, popular music has long sold audiences on
the novelty of fidelity. Whether it was the Velvet Underground's
self-conscious contradiction of norms in the '60s, the punks in the
'70s, the SST movement in the '80s, Robert Pollard in the '90s or
the In the Red Recordings and glo-fi movements of the '00s, most
forms of rock music have experienced an underbelly of acts opposed to letting us hear them for what they are. For some, A Sufi
and a Killer may play too heavily off this novelty, but I've listened
to this album a lot just trying to make sense of it, and have walked
away mostly pleased; give GonjaSufi credit for stimulating the
mind, if nothing else. DA
32
SHARON VAN ETTEN
Epic
Few musicians more successfully stun audiences with just a guitar and a voice than Sharon Van Etten. To take nothing away from
her work ethic, she writes, plays, and sings with the mastery with
which one can only be born. Just sixteen months after her brilliant
2009 debut, Because I Was in Love, she released a slightly fuller
album that makes brilliant use of droning harmoniums, mournful
strums, and candid poetry from one of today’s most exciting upand-coming singer-songwriters. JP
33
TAME IMPALA
Innerspeaker
The first album from Australian foursome Tame Impala combined
some of the year’s heaviest riffs and trippiest melodies in one
of 2010's strongest debuts. Tame Impala packed quite a punch
with Innerspeaker, which took us on a rollercoaster ride through
Zeppelin-esque blues-rock jams (“Lucidity”) to 1960’s Pink Floyd
psychedellia (“Solitude Is Bliss”). While comparisons to lesser
Australian rock groups such as Wolfmother were inevitable, the
boys in Tame Impala went far beyond mere copycat nostalgia trip
and honed in on their own sound while still wearing their influences extremely well. BK
31
THE DEAD WEATHER
Sea of Cowards
Jack White definitely created some buzz in 2010, what with his online admonishments, “Triple Decker” records, headphones, vinyl
paper hidden tracks, White House performance, and his collaborations with Dungen, Laura Marling, Danger Mouse, Conan O’Brien,
and Jay-Z. Did I miss anything? Probably, because this man was
all over the news. Oh yeah, then there was that little sophomore
album from his “side-project” with The Kills’ Alison Mosshart and
company that turned the blues on its head for the second time
with spine-tingling guitar stabs. Is it better than last year’s Horehound? Hard to say. Is it one of the best of 2010?... JP
Top Live Album
BILL CALLAHAN
Rough Travel for a Rare Thing
Leave it to Bill Callahan to give a perfect name to his first live album. The musician, not the coach. The artist formerly known as
Smog follows last year’s laudable Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle
with a recording so flawless that its live setting is only apparent
during applause. Not to mention the immanent value of hearing
the songwriter perform extended versions of “Bower” and “Bathysphere,” among other songs, complete with drums and strings. JP
24
top albums
30
CURREN$Y
Pilot Talk I
It’s true that all of Curren$y's songs are about weed, self-motivation, women, and cars, but it’s the way he and Ski present these
timeless ideals that makes Pilot Talk such a gorgeous album.
“Breakfast,” co-produced by Mos Def, is epitomic of the album as
a whole. No grand ambitions, no delusions of grandeur. Just tight
rhymes about the simple life Curren$y leads married to a fantastic
trumpet and bass that perfectly evokes Curren$y's lifelong vacation. Pilot Talk is not an album that aims to surprise anyone—it’s
just a brilliantly executed hip-hop album that makes the case for
artists spending less time fantasizing and more time simply being
themselves. In the process, it reveals itself to be one of the most
endearing and listenable hip-hop albums in quite a while. DA
29
28
LOS LOBOS
Tin Can Trust
STNNNG
The Smoke of My Will
With this year’s billow of exciting debuts and young band releases,
it’s all too easy to lose sight of the longtime stalwarts. Among that
group are Los Lobos. Thirteen albums over thirty-five years, and all
without losing a single member! And I thought U2’s run was impressive. David Hidalgo’s cowboy vocals carry the standout, “Burn
It Down,” while the sauntering “Jupiter or the Moon” and a cool
cover of the Grateful Dead’s “West L.A. Fadeaway” supply the
variety you might expect from the wolves, all with their trademark
Spanish tinge. This band is as good now as they have ever been. JP
One of the unfortunate things about small label releases is that
not nearly enough people hear the great ones. The Smoke of My
Will is one of the great ones, and not nearly enough people will
hear it. Truth be told, we probably overlooked some albums like it
(after all, we are partially human), but this is one we were glad to
have caught. The blistering punk obeisance of “Howling Man” and
the post-rock bliss of “Two Sick Friends” are just accents on an
already emphatic work by these veteran Twin City luminaries. JP
27
26
LIARS
Sisterworld
SPOON
Transference
Despite the freakish sense of doom that pervades the album,
there is something spontaneous and natural about Sisterworld.
Angus Andrew’s lyrics range from stream of consciousness on
“Here Comes All The People” and “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant”
to an ominous mantra on “Proud Evolution”. The volatility of the
instrumentation holds everything together; opener “Scissor,” with
lush vocal harmonies that abruptly give way to hostile percussion,
is really a microcosm of the album. Listen to it you must, but look
over your shoulder every so often while doing so. RW
Transference is the Jan Brady that has like five Marcias as sisters.
This album was severely underrated, and only because Spoon has
such a perfect track record. That’s not to say their previous releases are great and Transference is just good (Jan’s a beautiful
girl in her own right), but that in this sick, cruel, skeptical world,
ubiquitous critical acclaim and increased popularity sometimes
foster backlash. Transference is not Spoon Sells Out, but a nice,
neat Jack-in-the-box full of hooks, unpredictability, and heavy instrumentation, i.e., the M.O. Spoon consistently keeps on, keeps
on, keeps on doing right. RW
25
top albums
20
25
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY & THE CAIRO GANG
The Wonder Show of the World
LAURA MARLING
I Speak Because I Can
The Cairo Gang’s choral harmonies, folk minimalism, and Will
Oldham’s self-contained lyricism on The Wonder Show of the World
might call to mind soul folk stars like Bon Iver. But the links are
superficial. Besides, the bearded bard has been in operation since
1993, the Cairo Gang since 2005. Still, the evocation is similar: an
analgesic admiration for a deft songwriter’s craft set to an array of
folk strains. Cairo Gang guitarist Emmett Kelly forms impressive
fabric to drape around Oldham’s deliberate vocals, sometimes
seizing the spotlight, perhaps most notably on the luscious blues
solo that concludes “Teach Me to Bear You.” JP
With her debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim, Laura Marling, then
just eighteen, proved that she was a talent to be reckoned with.
Singing of melodramatic lovers and the loss of faith, among other
things, she expelled an undeniable maturity from those winsome
blue eyes, but with her sophomore effort, I Speak Because I Can,
she proves that her early laud was not for a mere adolescent
phase. Easing from song to song with her earnest, earthy voice
and guitar in hand, Marling creates an atmosphere of angst and
desire that duel in a most enjoyable way. There is a resounding
quality not only to the stories she tells, but her delivery, which
penetrates the listener like a ghost. I Speak Because I Can showcases growing, deepening talent that is more capable of reeling in
a devoted, enthralled audience. TC
26
top albums
24
23
WOODS
At Echo Lake
ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI
Before Today
Chiming guitars and falsetto aren’t always indicative of creativity. Ask any of the hundreds of forgettable indie bands that flood
the streets of LA and Brooklyn. But Woods’ At Echo Lake wonderfully meanders through intermittently unrefined and tempestuous
compositions. At times it border on psychedelia, but it feels too
real for such a distinction. “Pick Up”’s instrumental interludes,
for instance, could score a modern spaghetti western, and “Death
Rattles”’s penetrating clanks touch a place in us that is free from
all hallucination. JP
If you can recall our September list of the top 25 songs from our
first year, you shouldn’t be surprised to see Ariel Pink’s Haunted
Graffiti on here. Not only was “Round and Round” head, shoulders, knees and toes above every other song on the record, it’s at
least head, shoulders and knees above every other song put out
in 2010. But Ariel Pink and company are far from one-hit wonders.
Before Today’s lo-fi production and ADHD arrangements capture
the AM-radio-listening, Mystery-Machine-driving, post-flower
children climate of the 70’s. RW
22
21
CEO
White Magic
THE KINGS GO FORTH
The Outsiders are Back
White Magic is a weeklong trip to Versailles and Ibiza. On his
solo debut, the Tough Alliance’s Eric Bergund juxtaposes luxurious orchestral arrangements with the carefree hooks and samples characteristic of Balearic pop. There’s not a hint of stress as
Berglund compels his listeners to reminisce strolls through lush,
green gardens of day trips on “Oh God, Oh Dear” and opener “All
Around” before setting the sun and hitting up disco nightclubs
next to sandy beaches, as on “Illuminata” and “Come With Me,”
which exhibits some of the best pop of 2010. And like all getaways,
it’s achingly brief. A follow up needs to be in order ASAP. RW
The question is not whether this is the best funk revival album
of the year. The question is whether I feel comfortable deeming
funk revival a record that epitomizes quintessential 70s soul better than most quintessential 70s soul records. Calling it raw funk,
however, would imply that it’s not sweet and succulent, so I’ll abstain. Kings Go Forth have enough blaring brass and Sly “wainwow” for everyone to share. Add lead singer Black Wolf’s zestful,
androgynous wails, and you’ve got a winsome musical recipe that
would make James Brown swoon. JP
19
CRYSTAL CASTLES
Crystal Castles (II)
What a pleasant surprise this was. Not to detract from the debut,
but who could have expected a follow up this definitively dreamy
and introspective after full-scale wanton aggression and 8-bit Atari
sampling? Hindsight can point to potential in debut tracks like “Untrust Us” or “Crimewave”, and admittedly, the duo retains much of
that distorted rage, most conspicuously on “Doe Deer”. But Crystal Castles experimented with a range of which perhaps they didn’t
even know they were capable. Ethan Kath traded in his Chevy gaming system for a Cadillac synth, while Alice Glass stocked up on
Cepacol and truly discovered her voice. Together they experimented with a range of sounds from a number of sources not limited to
dream pop, new wave, house, and eurodance, silencing anyone who
thought this pair was just a gimmick. RW
18
TITUS ANDRONICUS
The Monitor
No 2010 album touches The Monitor’s brash energy, tangible emotion, or forthright honesty. Titus Andronicus’ sophomore release
is an in-your-face anthemic catharsis for those experiencing real
anxiety. In a series of raging sermons, frontman Patrick Sickles
takes his dissatisfaction out on his strained vocal chords. However, he’s less likely to quench his pipes with a swig of water than
with a hearty pull from a fifth of Jack (hell no, he’s not just gonna
brush his teeth with it). These qualities rise to the forefront, and
an ostentatious Civil War conceptual backdrop is really just the
icing on the cake. RW
17
16
NEST
Retold
GIL-SCOTT HERON
I'm New Here
Enjoyment of ambient music depends to a great degree to how
little it forces you to pay attention. It's about mood, repetition,
movement, sometimes at glacial pace, and yes, ambiance. Nest,
a duo comprising Otto Totland and Huw Roberts, make music that
crosses the delicate boundaries between modern classical music
and modern electronic ambient genre. The album begins quietly,
with tracks played often on a single instrument but builds up to
orchestral swells by the end that would perfectly score a movie
awash in deep melancholia. It's easy to dismiss much of ambient
music as variations on a single (or couple of) themes; we have all
heard the common complaint that "nothing much happened." But
this is undeniably one of a kind, a beautifully constructed, meticulously executed set of music designed to transport you to a place
where details don't matter anymore. AS
With the possible exception of Scott Walker, no music legend has
reinvented himself more successfully than Gil-Scott Heron. The
silk-voiced man who once mordantly declared that “the revolution
will not be televised” still enjoys telling of his childhood in Tennessee, and his spoken word is as strong as ever. But, as the title
suggests, Heron purposefully estranges himself with the familiar,
exploring new and varied musical regions and a gruffer vocal style.
The asperous “Me and the Devil,” the melancholic “I’ll Take Care
of You,” and the spiritual-derived “New York is Killing Me” anchor
Heron’s first album in sixteen years. Meanwhile, his estimable poetry, laid over sparse reverberative beats, unmistakably ties it back
to his brilliant 70s work. JP
27
top albums
15
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ soundtrack to The Social Network
depicts the Digital Age not as a luminous information superhighway, but as a dark, subterranean network of conduits transmitting
loneliness, atomization, and longing. The great achievement of
Ross and Reznor in this electronic-suffused work is its ability to
stand alone as a great album, besides its role as an integral part of
an excellent film. The first track, titled “Hand Covers Bruise” (the
track titles are haunting, poetic snippets that are perhaps as essential to appreciating the album as listening to the music itself), features melancholic piano notes over a quivering electric guitar line.
Thus we are introduced to the two main motifs of the album: the
piano adding a bit of delicate and forlorn humanity to the (variously
dark, upbeat, and cold) electronic instruments and effects. Indeed,
the soundtrack’s deft shifting among tones and feelings is exemplified by the placement of “Painted Sun in Abstract” (an airy, if
subdued, piece of optimism) immediately before “3:14 Every Night”
(creepy and ominous, portending doom and crawling insects; the
piano arrives late to sound doubtfully and uncertainly). Unmoored
from a movie, this remains a rich and evocative musical work. JE
12
FLYING LOTUS
Cosmogramma
SHINING
Blackjazz
Anyone who has seen a Flying Lotus (Steve Ellison) video (namely
“Dance Floor Dale”) knows that the man has a wonderfully bizarre
sense of humor. Is Cosmogramma a joke for Ellison, then, or a serious work of art? It’s hard not to assume it is a mixture of the two. It’s
even harder to argue that anyone is making larger leaps in electronic
hybridization these days. Classifying his music as “jazz,” “house,”
or “experimental” would be a desperate attempt at capturing the
essence of a cerebral enigma, one of the great innovators – a fool’s
undertaking. His fluttering, spasmodic Nintendo beats and rapid,
entrancing cadences could drive anyone to tears of joy…or fear. JP
Not the for the faint of ear or heart, the Norwegian band’s fifth LP
is as far a departure from their docile acoustic jazz beginnings as is
humanly (or androidly) possible. Clocking in at just under a full hour,
Blackjazz is a truly unremitting ambush of deafening drums, rapid,
razor-sharp guitars, and untrammeled screams. Amazingly, though,
neither keen meter nor satisfying melody is lost at any point. Shining
teases us with transient moments of soft-pedaled keys and sumptuous saxophone before demolishing the placidity with more jarring
effects that could only have come from a close relative of Ridley
Scott’s Alien. For such a hyperbolic album, it is almost impossible to
avoid superlatives. That said, it is the bravest and most over-the-top
album of the year, hands down. We have included the epic tracklist to
give further evidence of the album’s merit. (Note both instances of
song title duplication, as well as the titles themselves.) JP
DELOREAN
Subiza
It would be unfair to call this album “soothing”. Soothe it does,
but “soothing” too inaccurately invokes a downtempo ambience
and undercuts the punch packed by its infectious dance hooks. Alternatively, grouping Delorean with its Balearic pop ilk seriously
cheapens the Spanish group’s evolved sound. Subiza displays obvious house, club, and trance influence, but its intangibles separate it from the rest of its Basque brethren. Timely repitched samples of a strangely sexy female voice, rising rhythms that reach
their expected climaxes, and, above everything, that transcendent
synth all fully validate Subiza’s praise. RW
11
LOCAL NATIVES
Gorilla Manor
My initial reaction to Local Natives was that their bangs and facial hair would make a sweet minimalist t-shirt. Could someone
out there make that happen? That same conspicuity captures their
music, as well. Local Natives are clearly more than your indie rock
cliché, despite the hipster moustaches, flannel, and Southern
California chill vibes. The quintet’s debut release, Gorilla Manor,
is much more sweeping than the complacent junk from the rest of
their niche.Their intricacy belies their catchy hooks.The album only
feels like an unrestrained party playlist. Gorilla Manor is full of delicate piano lopes, calculated arrangements, and soaring harmonies
that reveal a wily group of guys a cut above the competition. RW
09
KANYE WEST
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
14
13
28
top albums
TRENT REZNOR & ATTICUS ROSS
The Social Network Soundtrack
Tracklist
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
The Madness And The Damage Done
Fisheye
Exit Sun
Exit Sun
HEALTER SKELTER
The Madness And The Damage Done
Blackjazz Deathtrance
Omen
21st Century Schizoid Man
10
A best-of-2010 forum that ignores My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
is a biased one, even though I would love to omit the loud-mouthed,
fragile ego of an insecure jackass in stunner shades and mink fur
who has somehow successfully debased 20th century paragons of
virtue like Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali by egregiously equating
his lavish self-absorption to something as righteous as social activism. All revolutionaries are divisive people, but not all divisive
people are revolutionaries. Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Matt Lauer
are by no means comparable to loathsome white supremacists or
an intolerant U.S. military. Nonetheless, Kanye executed an excellent rope-a-dope to cap off the PR firestorm that defined his past
year. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the unfortunate magnum
opus that perfectly captures his detestable existence. It pains me to
say it, but this…album…is…really…gooooowerfvcxswerfvcxs. RW
08
THE ROOTS
How I Got Over
Between ?uestlove's weekly DJ-ing at the Brooklyn Bowl and the
band’s new day job, it’s a wonder we haven’t drowned in the Roots
deluge. And while I’m not crazy about their role as Fallon’s house
band, I’d be a fool to claim that their more recent releases have
been anything but spectacular. Teaming up with an eclectic and
impressive collaborating crew including Dirty Projectors’ Amber
Coffman, Monsters of Folk, Joanna Newsom, Phonte, and John
Legend, the Philadelphia group further enkindles the old school
soul spirit they first revived in 1993.
Pivotal to the retro ambience is Dice Raw, who lends his sagacious lyrical advice to the album’s best two tracks, “Walk Alone”
and “Radio Daze.” BlackThought (TariqTrotter), meanwhile, holds
his own as the group’s verbal frontman, and executive producer
Richard Nichols makes fine use of the stellar supporting cast,
whose talents might well have been fumbled in less skillful hands.
A day may come when a Roots album fails to deliver, when they
replace authentic beats with cheap hip-hop trash. But it is not
this day. JP
07
GRINDERMAN
Grinderman 2
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH
The Wild Hunt
Nick Cave has long been England’s most venerable badass. If
you’re asking for proof, then obviously you have neither seen his
moustache nor heard his music. He used a real wolf for his last
video, for Christ’s sake. And if he is capable of creating bad music, he has shown us little evidence. Take Grinderman, Cave’s new
band longtime band mates Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, and Jim
Sclavunos. With two self-titled albums under their belt, they have
climbed new musical mountains with the same unapologetically
weird brashness that made the Bad Seeds famous. And Grinderman 2 is assuredly the bolder of the two. JP
In 2010 Kristian Matsson finally got the hype he deserved, but The
Wild Hunt’s April release date destined it to severe neglect from the
music community. Spinning lustrous yarns from his taffeta-twined
poetical brain, theTallest Man delivers an even more impressive record than his 2008 debut. Broader instrumentation provide a slightly more expansive experience, and Matsson is as gravelly as ever,
belting out the longing “You’re Going Back” and the resplendent
“Love is All” before taking a seat at a solemn piano for “Kids on the
Run.” And who can forget the charm of “King of Spain”? The album
more than does justice to its magnificent mythical namesake while
omitting the horrific images that accompany it. JP
29
top albums
01
Top EPs
HOW TO DESTROY ANGELS
How to Destroy Angels
It's hard not to be suspicious of the husband and
wife duo who decide that the world needs to hear
them make music together. John and Yoko, Paul
and Linda, you know the drill. So when Nine Inch
Nails mastermind Trent Reznor announced that
his “new” band How To Destroy Angels (named
after the 1984 E.P. from Coil) included his wife
Mariqueen Maandig, you could forgive us for
thinking that this was going to be more double
fantasy than, you know, daydream nation. But
Reznor, Maandig and third collaborator Atticus
Ross (who contributed to the stellar The Social Network soundtrack) really deliver. With six
songs meandering through industrial pop, they
create a mood that is less angry a la NIN than just
ominous. Yes, it largely sounds like a NIN record
with female vocals (without the head-on-the-wall
jackhammer drums), but that's not necessarily a
bad thing. The songs are exquisitely constructed
and one "A Drowning," an electronic dirge full of
vague regret, is worth the price alone. AS
02
06
FREDDIE GIBBS
Str8 Killa EP
05
SUPERCHUNK
Majesty Shredding
“Can we all take a minute,” pleaded IF’s
Conor Berigan in his review for Superchunk’s first album in nine long years, “to
mount Falcor the Luckdragon and strap in
with the warm feeling of apple pie settling
in our tummies and love that only a bedtime
story from Jerry Garcia can provide? Here
we stand, about to embark on an epic saga
of nostalgia, anxiety, and heartaches. In
Majesty Shredding one can feel the authenticity of the music, and honesty in the words
that can only be mustered from genuine experience.”
Well said, my friend. Few bands are more capable at stripping
us of our inhibitions making us wish the 90s had lasted forever.
Just add this to the long list of brilliant accomplishments, which
includes eight other fine albums and a little record label called
Merge. The Superchunks are now old timers, but they will never
cease to be young. JP
Parents, try to get over the expletives. This is
the future of rap. In one of the most enjoyable
interviews of the year, Freddie Gibbs told IF’s
Doug Knickrehm, “I don’t gotta ride no coattails to get my spot in this game,” and For Gibbs,
life and the rap game are inextricable, and he is
winning by a landslide. With eight robust tracks,
Str8 Killa probably qualifies for a full album, but
Gibbs assures us it is just a flavor of what is to
come. Block Beattaz’s ethereal production elevates Gibbs’ smooth lyricism on “Personal OG”
and the punch that “National Anthem (Fuck the
World)” packs is enough to knock anyone from
JAMES BLAKE
CMYK
Blake's time-release approach to his solo projects didn't keep him relevant in 2010. What kept
him relevant (and will continue to do so) was
the magnitude of each EP. Out of gold, frankincense and myrrh, the R & B equivalent to
Frankenstein's monster, CMYK slightly stood
out among the three releases. The title track's
heavily modified Kelis sample highlights an EP
that toys with negative space so well you'll constantly doubt your instincts. RW
30
top albums
03
ARCADE FIRE
The Suburbs
Arcade Fire songs have never been defined
by complexity. Their iconicity derive from
purposeful instrumentation, impressive
chords (both in the sense of “grand” and
“leaving an impression”), and commanding chronicles and professions. The Suburbs quarters a greater number of such
iconic tracks than did Funeral, if only due
to its additional fifteen minutes. The first
three prodigious tracks successfully aim to
stagger, but they unfortunately shroud the
retrospective richness hidden in the Byrdlike guitars of “Suburban War,” the painfully suitable melancholy of “Deep Blue,” the
keenly charged “Month of May,” the anxious “We Used to Wait,” and the cool pop
tempo of “Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond
Mountains).” Transmitting inspired, sometimes chilling, stories of suburban life, city
lights, and literally bloodthirsty businessmen, Arcade Fire craft a complete album,
an epic that can hold its own in any album
catalogue from any era. JP
CARIBOU
Swim
there to Gibbs’ hometown of Gary, Indiana. JP
03
04
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
This Is Happening
I once blacklisted James Murphy from my iTunes before I ever even
gave LCD Soundsystem a fair listen. Every critical review read like
hagiography, and if I saw one more writer synonymize the hallowed
name of David Bowie with a buzzworthy DJ with a five o’clock
shadow and white undershirt I swore I’d make a muted hermitage
to the barren hills of Council Bluffs, Iowa. But I listened. And three
albums later, I am still listening. LCD Soundsystem’s latest release
This is Happening is most indebted to the Thin White Duke’s Berlin
Triptych, but Murphy’s a pioneer in his own right, crafting grandiose
dance hits with a calculated sprawl of hooks. If this is indeed Murphy’s last hurrah, as he says, LCD Soundsystem has a capped off a
nice trilogy for itself, as well. RW
Music for any mood, sounds for any setting. Complete with pithy titles and an expressive cover, Daniel Snaith’s latest creation is dynamic and danceable, but at its
core…well, see, that’s the thing. It’s nearly
impossible to get at its core, an outward
black hole from which suppurate frantic
beats and daunting melodies. We selected it, however, not for its mystery (or title
lengths, for that matter), but for Snaith’s
unmistakable gift for creating strikingly
organic beats electronically and assailing us with completely new and intensely
provocative sounds. He is cool and contained when he needs to be, inserting his
own Erlend Øye-like vocals, but Swim is
most memorable for the pounding jungle
rhythms of “Odessa,” “Sun,” and “Bowls”
and the brilliant catharses that define
“Kaili” and album closer “Jamelia.” JP
31
top albums
02
01
BEACH HOUSE
Teen Dream
DEERHUNTER
Halycon Digest
Teen Dream is the perfect album to listen to over headphones
after snuggling up under a 15 tog duvet at the headboard of a
queen-sized oaken sleigh bed on the wood-paneled floor of a Tudor bedroom splotched by the full moon’s silhouette of listless
January snowfall that settles like cobwebs in the bottom corners
of the pellucid oriel window that spotlights your vulnerability for
a cobblestone street flanked by the dimly gas-lit, lantern-topped
street lights of an indifferent and slumbering world, where somewhere Jenny gives herself to a blissful slumber in the arms of
your douchebag ex-best friend Johnny, or whatever melancholic
thought might cross your restless mind. Johnny says to you, “Teen
Dream isn’t limited to so specific a setting,” and you counter quietly, “Fuck you, backstabber. That’s not the point.” Teen Dream
works anywhere, but Beach House has crafted an album so technically sound, wonderfully arranged, hypnotic, charming, and
blissful that it creates an idiosyncratic situation that demands
your utmost attention. Now excuse me while I slip back into the
world Beach House constructed for me. RW
32
top albums
James and I rarely agree on anything, not so much because we have
such different tastes or are so opinionated, probably not because
we’re both paradoxically dismissive of and prone to hyperboles,
and definitely nothing to do with ego. Regardless, our Skype sessions alone would constitute 17 of the 20 most flamboyant displays
of unbridled bickering in the history of deliberative bodies. History
in mind, I was taken aback when James pitched Deerhunter as we
opened the floor for the album-of-the-year debate. Granted, I first
assumed devil’s advocate to keep up appearances, but never had I
cut the bullshit so quickly and consented, “Okay.”
Does this mean that Halcyon Digest is the undisputed champion
of 2010? As far as we’re concerned, yes. But it’s tough to articulate why that is. Copouts aside, I feel that mystery accounts for
its stranglehold of our top spot. On every level, Halcyon Digest
tightly treads the line between warmth and aloofness. A dense
wall-of-sound from “Memory Boy” swiftly succeeds the frail tears
from Brandon Cox’s guitar on “Sailing.” All the while, Ben Allen’s
production supplements this duality with placid, liquid shimmers
and thick, aggressive percussion. Cox’s bipolar lyrics congeal the
album, capturing the insecurity from the cyclical tragedy that too
often befalls the inspired. The Renaissance Man’s range of influences are sometimes more a monkey on his back than a shot in
the arm. But as an album that masterfully channels the musical
spectrum from the Everly Brothers to Animal Collective, Halcyon
Digest testifies that it’s a burden worth bearing. RW
33
top albums
80 MUSIC
MINUTES
OF
FOR
RESOLUTION
BREA
KERS
It usually takes me three or four weeks to break my New Years resolution, but I
figured I would get a head start this year. And I’m dragging you down with me.
For those of you who always follow through with your goals and resolutions, you
might want to stay away from this one. Not that it will free you from the sweltering
fires of hell for which you are destined…so why not join in the misery? We have
eighty minutes of some spectacularly depressing music to get things rolling.
1
3:05
SIMON & GARFUNKEL –
“The Sound of Silence”
Ready to wallow in your own selfpity like Benjamin Braddock (Dustin
Hoffman) in The Graduate? This
haunting acoustic folk classic will
fill your void like Elaine does for Ben
when she…well, I won't give away the
ending. (But if you haven't seen it,
watch it NOW.)
2
1:59
FUGAZI –
“I'm So Tired”
A raw, stripped down ballad featuring frontman Ian MacKaye and a bellowing grand piano. If you can't sit
down at a piano and sing the blues
for yourself, MacKaye has enough
moaning melancholy for the both of
you, and more.
3
4:58
SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE –
"In Circles"
This angsty grunge ballad says it
all when it comes to the emotions of
frustration and defeat. And, well, it
should—coming from the fathers of
emo themselves.
34
playlist
4
2:39
ELLIOT SMITH – “The Biggest Lie"
So, honesty hasn't been your strong
suit in 2011…and basically…you
fucked up bad. Sounds too harsh?
Well, Elliot Smith transforms it into
words that are slightly more poetic.
5
3:05
THE SMITHS –
“Back to the Old House"
Marr and Morrissey slow things down
for this recollection song, the b-side
to 1984’s “What Difference Does It
Make?” (hey, we probably could have
included that one too).
6
4:47
JOY DIVISION – "New Dawn Fades"
"Mistakes were made? You took the
blame? The strain's too much, can't
take much more? Hoping for something else?" Ian Curtis says it all with
his haunting baritone croon.
7
3:05
PLACEBO – “36 Degrees”
With lines like: "I've always been an
introvert, happily bleeding," this trepidatious 90s post-punk jam features
themes of isolation, insecurity, failed
relationships, etc. Whatever you're
feeling angry or down about, you'll
probably find a piece of it here.
8
3:38
NIRVANA – “You Know You're Right"
“Heeeeyyeyyy you know you're right.”
Messed up and just want to let it all
out? Turn up the music, break out
your grunge voice, and…try to drown
out Kurt's vocals.
9
1:39
PAUL BARIBEAU –"Help a Kid Out"
“Mom, I'm out of money again. Can't
you help a kid out? I've got troubles
I can't face alone.” Lucky for you,
you've got Paul Baribeau's raspy yowl
and catchy Oberst-esque acoustic
riffs to sing along with.
10
3:25
BRIGHT EYES – “If Winter Ends"
Conor Oberst desperately whines,
“Lie to me and say it's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright...” If you've
got the winter blues just follow his
lead and think like an optimist. It's
gonna be alright.
11
8:37
MODEST MOUSE – “Broke"
In this economy, seriously, who
isn't? Isaac Brock speaks for most
of us right about now, while adding
in his usual rambling, self-deprecating prose.
12
4:01
PJ HARVEY – “To Talk To You"
Death is not an unexplored theme in
Harvey’s large body of work. Here she
longs to be under the earth with her
deceased grandmother.
13
4:37
THE NATIONAL –
“Theory of the Crows”
“If I forget you, I’ll have nobody left to
forget. I guess that’s what assholes
get.” Amen, Matt, although I must
say, rime riche is sooooo sixteenth
century.
14
3:54
NINE INCH NAILS – “Heresy”
Never has such a doleful song fit
so well on a pump up mix. “God is
dead,” Reznor screams, “and no one
cares.” And if there’s a hell, he’ll see
you there. Ha, as if you needed Trent
Reznor to tell you that you’re a loathsome individual.
15
4:39
THE DAMNED – "Twisted Nerve"
This one’s taken from 1980’s The Black
Album by The Damned. Wow, the
song title is less depressing than the
band and album names. But brooding
guitars and a paranoid freak’s hallucinations (or are they?) will be sure to
darken the mood.
16
2:47
TOWNES VAN ZANDT – “Kathleen"
It’s still difficult for me to recognize
any Townes song as “depressing” in
any traditional sense, but this also
gives me an excuse to include one
of his songs. Which one to choose?
How about this dark, string-swelled
track from Our Mother the Mountain.
17
5:07
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN –
“My Father's House"
A reader complained to us that we
didn’t include the Boss in our Christmas playlist last issue, so here is our
shot at redemption. Maybe Bruce
can take you to your own special
place “so cold and alone, shining
‘cross this dark highway where our
sins lie unatoned.”
18
4:17
RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS –
"This is the Place"
It’s been a while since the Peppers
graced 80 Minutes of Music, but this
one fits quite nicely. Believe me, this
is not a place you want to visit anytime soon.
19
2:03
NEIL YOUNG –
“The Needle and the Damage Done”
A fairly straightforward and haunting
tale of the horrors of heroine.
20
3:22
RAY CHARLES –
“Drown in My Own Tears"
Starting off the New Year with some
luvin' troubles, son? Grab a box of
tissues and get straight to the heart
of the matter. Don't feel ashamed,
your blues-singing brother has your
back on this one.
21
4:26
RADIOHEAD – "Nude"
This song is almost half as depressing as picturingThom Yorke nude. I am
so terribly sorry for doing that to you.
kathryn freund
james passarelli
35
playlist