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may 2013

5.1.13
By the somewhat objective measure of my iTunes collection (and my ratings of the songs in that collection), 2013 is looking like a particularly terrible year for music. Here we are, four months in, and so far I've only got 27 tracks that I have rated at four or more stars, with only 2 of those being five star tracks.

In contrast, by the end of April last year, I had 53 tracks that rated at four stars or above, with 11 of those being five star tracks. And this isn't a sample size issue: as of this point last year, I had only purchased eight albums (108 tracks), versus this year's fourteen albums' 163 tracks. That means that for 2013, I have only 16.5% of the songs I've purchased rated as above average, while in 2012 it was 49%——nearly half. And although that high percentage of above average tracks may be a bit of an outlier, if we bring 2011 into the mix, it's clear that the true outlier is 2013: out of 23 albums (263 tracks), 113 were rated at four stars or more (18 of which were five star tracks), meaning that the percentage of above average tracks was just under 43%——not quite as high as 2012's 49%, but still triple the 16.5% of 2013.

These numbers could changes somewhat, however——I have rated all of the 108 tracks in last year's albums, whereas I have currently only rated 47 of the 163 tracks from this year's albums. But I also know enough about my tendencies to know that this isn't just laziness on my part that will, when I get around to rating the songs, balance out the two years. Typically when I haven't rated a track after listening to it at least 2-3 times, it's going to end up with a three star rating, because even though it might not be a terrible song that demands a lower rating, it also hasn't sparked anything in me that makes me want to give it a higher rating where it ends up in the playlists I listen to most frequently.



5.2.13
I've been thinking a bit more about the disturbingly low percentage of above average songs that I've purchased this year, and while it's likely still down compared to most years, the lack of ratings overall from the songs that I've purchased this year (and that were released this year) is definitely a factor.

I still think a big part of that is that the songs that remain unrated are of average quality, because I've listened to them all at least three times at this point, but it might also have a lot to do with my recent 80s obsession, which has not only seen me listening to playlists of my favorite 80s songs, but which has also led me to purchase many albums from that period and spend a lot of time listening to them. As a result, I haven't engaged with truly new music the way I normally might have.

iTunes only tells me how many times I've listened to a given track, not when that listening took placed, but my scrobbles to last.fm can be of some use in determining how much time I've spent listening to 80s music over the past few months, time that otherwise might have been spent listening to (and finding appealing features of) newer music.

Over the last three months, three of my top 5 artists (including the top two who are separated from number three by about a hundred plays each) are, in order, the Smiths, the Cars, and, at number five, John Mellencamp. Looking at the top twenty and we can throw in OMD and Prince, and we might as well throw in the Faint, since their retro sound has definitely appealed to me in the same way that listening to true 80s acts is.

It still does say something about the quality of the 2013 releases that they haven't compelled me to spend more time with them, but if I had spent more time with them over the past few months, it's highly likely that I would have rated most or all of the tracks that are currently unrated, and that the number of above average tracks would be at least double what it is now. Again, I still think it will be low compared to most years, both as a number of tracks and as a percentage of the number of tracks I've purchased, but it's probably not as low as the 16.5% that I'm currently seeing.



5.3.13
I went on a little bit of a buying spree last night, picking up the Thermals' latest, Desperate Ground, the Tune-Yards' Bird-Brains, Mikal Cronin's eponymous debut, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA, Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d. city, and Weezer's Blue Album.

Many of these purchases were due to cheap prices for the digital versions on Amazon, but some were just random, impulse-driven decisions. Not too much in there from 2013 that will help with the quality issues I've been writing about for the past couple of days, but I'm happy to have some new music nonetheless.



5.6.13
I was hoping for a solid rebound for the Thermals with their latest, Desperate Ground. They had two of my favorite albums a few years back with The Body, The Blood, The Machine and Now We Can See, but on Personal Life (which maybe followed too closely on the heels of Now We Can See) they sounded flat and spent.

I figured with a three year break from recording they would either return with strength or prove that they were completely out of ideas, but they've done neither of those things. The album is better than Personal Life, but it's nowhere near as good as their strongest work, and there's not even really a single song that I can hold up as something they could build on for the future.

They seem to be turning into one of those bands that can crank out album after album of stuff that's good/decent but rarely great, and although I have an unfortunate habit of sticking with these bands long after they've produced anything meaningful, I think they're really going to have to show me something vital before I'll buy their next record. (I even hesitated to buy this one, and only pulled the trigger once Amazon put it on sale for $5, and that seems about the right price to pay in retrospect.)



5.7.13
I think I'm eventually going to fall in love with the Tune-Yards' Bird-Brains——it has some quirky charms that are readily apparent, and others that I suspect will take time to reveal themselves——but I don't think I'd have the stomach for the process if I didn't love whokill so much. Also, I saw them perform live on Austin City Limits and it made me adore them that much more:



5.13.13
Got into a minor obession with Childish Gambino's (aka Community actor Donald Glover) debut album, Camp. I got into it and ended up feeling pretty positive about it right after I bought it, and I'm not sure what triggered me revisiting it, but it was all I listened to for two or three days.

The music's a little derivative (but catchy), and sometimes it's hard to tell if he's trying to be a real rapper or if this is just a character he's created, but there are moments of real sincerity and vulnerability that make me believe it's the former.



5.14.13
And just as I wound up my mini-obsession with Childish Gambino's first official record, he releases a new mixtape, ROYALTY. Can't speak for the quality, as I haven't given it a solid listen yet, but you can download it here if you're curious.



5.15.13
I've always had a complicated relationship with Vampire Weekend. Their too-cool-for-the-Ivy-Leauge image, shameless appropriation of the 80s artists who shamelessly appropriated African-influenced world music, and instant success all worked against them for me, but I also have an undeniable love for most of their music, and songs of unexpected honesty like the title track and album closer for their sophomore record, Contra, leave me with no doubt that this is a band I should root for.

Their third record, Modern Vampires of the City, came out this week, and it's as polished and perfect as you would expect, with some weird detours that you wouldn't. Overall I think it's going to be one of those records that I listen to as a whole entity——there aren't any songs that really jump out at me as anchor singles——but then again, it took a couple of months before "Contra" got its hooks in me, and now it's probably my favorite track from the band.



5.16.13
The just-released update to iTunes returns the ability to view album artwork while you are in song/list view. THANK GOD. That was my preferred way of interacting with my music collection in iTunes prior to iTunes 11, and I hadn't found a satisfactory replacement with any of the new views they introduced. I still think iTunes 11 was a pretty weak upgrade, but this will go a long way towards eliminating my daily irritation with the program.



5.17.13
Favorite song off Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d. city: "Backstreet Freestyle". I think that's a track I'm not supposed to like, at least not if I'm taking it somewhat at face value and not as part of some larger meta-narrative. But I don't care.



5.20.13
Time for this month's list of 100 MP3 albums for $5 from Amazon. The must-haves: Radiohead's Kid A, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' It's Blitz!, Nick Drake's Pink Moon, and My Bloody Valentine's classic Loveless. The well-worth-it-for-$5 albums: Michael Jackson's Off the Wall, Thao & the Get Down Stay Down's We the Common, and M83's Saturdays = Youth.

It was my understanding that these selections were updated once a month at the beginning of the month, and while I can't find anything to the contrary (or anything that confirms my understanding), these selections are definitely different than the ones available just two weeks ago at the beginning of May.

Browsing through the list then, I ended up purchasing the Thermals' Desperate Ground, Weezer's self-titled debut, Kendrick Lamar's good kid, m.A.A.d. city, and Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA. And yet none of those records are on the list of 100 as of today. So I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on this list and see if there was just some sort of fluke or whether the list is now updated more than once a month.



5.21.13
Childish Gambino's latest mixtape, ROYALTY, is not nearly as charming as his debut album, Camp. Camp was explicitly a bedroom side project by an actor that wasn't written and recorded with the intention of being shared with an audience, but now that Donald Glover realizes he might have a chance at some sort of a career in music, he seems to be trying to make a record that demands we take him seriously as an artist. So far I'm not buying it.



5.22.13
On impulse, I bought both of Mikal Cronin's albums, Mikal Cronin and MCII, and overall I'm pretty happy with my purchases. MCII is more what I was hoping for——a great mix of rough edged lo-fi indie guitar and irresistable pop melodies——but there are some good tracks on his debut as well, most notably "Apathy".

Cronin is known primarily as a collaborator and band member for Ty Segall, an emerging carrier of the punk torch who I know I'm supposed to like (and who on paper seems like someone whose music I would love) but who's never really done it for me. Cronin's music is more of what I expected when I read the glowing reviews of Segall's records. He's sort of an alternate reality Nathan Williams, and his first two solo albums could have easily been the sequels to the first Wavves record if Williams hadn't decided to go for a glossier studio sheen and more straightforward bubblegum hooks.



5.23.13
All of the National's albums have been growers for me——I've never loved them initially the way I do after listening to them for six months, and like whiskey, the longer they age in my brain, the better they are. So I guess it's not a big surprise that I'm a bit disappointed with their latest, the just-released Trouble Will Find Me.

I really love the unique sound of frontman Matt Berninger's baritone, a tone that is almost unused in contemporary rock music, but that's often the biggest criticism of the group from first time listeners. I have a friend who maddeningly says that Berninger's voice sounds just like the singer from the Crash Test Dummies, which is so untrue it makes me want to punch him every time he says it. But therein lies the problem——the deep voice is so infrequently experienced in modern music that there's really only one or two other references to compare Berninger's to, and people are prone to stop listening before they can really get to know his unique sound. And it seems like the band is reacting to that criticism by having Berninger sing at a much higher range for much of this record.

As a result, it's harder for someone like me, who likes the sound of Berninger's preferred range, to hear this as a National record, because the signature sound of the band has been neutered and turned into something more common. "Demons" is the only song that immediately grabbed me, and it's no coincidence that Berninger mostly uses his baritone. The closing track, "Hard to Find", is the one that's the weirdest for me——it sounds like a lost Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen song, and while it's a good song, my mind just can't process it as a National song.

I have a feeling that this record will grow on me just like their other ones have, but I get so excited about new National albums that it would be nice if I could have one that I embraced immediately. I don't know what they would need to do to make that happen, but having Matt Berninger sound like Matt Berninger certainly would have helped on Trouble.



5.24.13
I've had a love/hate relationship with Pitchfork for a long, long time now, but I keep reading the site because it is, for better or worse, the site that still introduces me to more new music that I like than any other.

That's not to say that I like all hte music they like, or even like all the music the designate as Best New Music——that list is as likely to be filled with albums I hate for being pretentious, overblown attempts at Serious Music as it is to have records that I like. But they get it right often enough that I can't ignore them.

The most recent Pitchfork discovery is Chance the Rapper, whose name saves me the trouble of explaining his genre. Pitchfork named his lates mixtape, Acid Rap (downloadable here for free), as a Best New Music selection a couple of weeks ago, and although it took a couple of listens for me to get it, I've listened to it close to a dozen times since then and it just gets better with each listen.

I was also introduced to my favorite artist who fits vaguely into the rap/hip hop genre, Frank Ocean (who, incidentally, is name checked on Chance's "Chain Smoker"), this way——a glowing review of a free mixtape on Pitchfork——and given how good Ocean's proper debut, Channel Orange, was, I'd love to see the same outcome here.



5.28.13
David Byrne's and St. Vincent's collaborative effort, Love This Giant, has just released a new EP, Brass Tactics, and it's free to download on their site (so long as you don't mind giving them your email address, that is):

 

The only genuinely new song is the opening track, "Cissus". This is followed by two remixes from the Love This Giant album, "I Should Watch TV" and "Lightning", and then a live version of one track each from St. Vincent's and David Byrne's back catalog. From St. Vincent we get "Marrow" from Actor, and from Byrne we get "Road to Nowhere" from Little Creatures.

"Road to Nowhere" was the closing song when I saw them back in March, and this captures that experience pretty well. It was the highlight of that show, and it's the highlight of this EP. I love the original, but this live version improves upon the studio version in the same way that the live version of "Once in a Lifetime" on Stop Making Sense was an improvement on the already-great studio version from Remain in Light.

This is an EP I likely would have paid for it they were selling it. As a free download, it's a no-brainer in terms of whether or not to pick it up.



5.29.13
A blog that I read (typically not music-related——ususally it focuses on books and local politics) compiled a list of links to cover songs performed by the Decemberists. Colin Meloy picked it up on his Twitter feed, and shortly thereafter linked to an even more comprehensive list from the You Ain't No Picasso blog——an astounding 56 tracks total. Probably only for diehard Decemberists fans, but if you're one of those, it's definitely worth the 56 downloads.



5.30.13
I've recently started reading The Biographical Dictionary of Popular Music: From Adele to Ziggy, the Real A to Z of Rock and Pop by Dylan Jones, a British journalist who is old enough to have been young when David Bowie was still making a name for himself and contemporary enough that some of the artists he writes about released their first records within the past five years.

The length of the entries varies greatly, and it's not a true biographical accounting of everyone he feels warrants inclusion so much as his take on them in whatever format he deems appropriate. Two of the shortest: "Crosby, Stills & Nash: A varnished log cabin. Crosby Stills, Nash & Young: A varnished log cabin with an unvarnished front door." Contrast that with the entry for Sammy Davis Jr., which goes on for pages and pages and is the only entry I've skipped before finishing.

Jones is a lively writer, and although the entries tilt towards obscure British bands and are a little heavier on jazz, blues, and 60s and 70s rock of various stripes than I'd like, it's still a compelling read——even for artists you love, you almost always come away learning something new——even if that something new is just a particularly nasty way he can cut them down. I'm only through the Ds so far, but I feel confident recommending it strongly.



5.31.13
Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA is not as good as I remember it (I hadn't listened to it in probably 20 years, but I picked it up cheap on one of Amazon's monthly sales). When it's good, it's spectacularly good, but when it's not, it's pretty mediocre.