Six Great Music Things From The First Half Of 2011 That I Haven’t Already Written About
by Scott Creney
Destroyer – Kaputt
What a weird album. What a doomed and beautiful (potentially) bottomless work. Dan Bejar knows something, but he isn’t telling. And I haven’t figured it out yet.
Tearist – Living: 2009-Present
I like the shittiness of this live recording. It sounds like a seventh-generation cassette dub, and the production isn’t any worse than early Guided By Voices or Tall Dwarfs. Someone already wrote a review, but if you ask me it sounds like Lene Lovich and Kate Bush wrestling OMD into the future, or something.
Micachu & The Shapes – Chopped & Screwed (Live at King’s Palace)
Someone already reviewed this one as well. This album blows my mind every time I listen to it. As sonically interesting as Loveless, as moving as early John Cale, you have to hear this.
The Book Of Mormon – Soundtrack
Here in America, a musical that features lyrics like “Fuck you God in the mouth, ass, and cunt” won all kinds of awards this year. The Book Of Mormon is a lot more heartfelt, funny and sweet than that line suggests. This album is the best-selling Broadway musical soundtrack album in four decades. And oh yeah, it was written by the guys from South Park.
Warpaint – Live at Glastonbury 25/6/11
No, I didn’t go to Glastonbury. Are you kidding? In 2011, you can just watch it on your computer. Last year’s Warpaint album left me cold — too murky, didn’t like the production, not enough hooks. But this performance has me pulling the album out again and thinking I must have missed something. It’s that good.
And that bass player has the coolest shirt in rock’n’roll.
David Foster Wallace – The Pale King
This one’s a book, but DFW’s command of the English language, the endlessly lyrical way he could construct a sentence, qualifies as music in my world. This release puts a whole new perspective on Wallace’s tragic suicide. Contrary to initial reports, he still had so much left to give. As human and vulnerable as his non-fiction, and as daring and inventive as the best of his fiction, this is the best thing he ever wrote.
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