Keath’s 2011 Experiment Week 4
Sometime around late January I realized I was completely and utterly bored with my music archive. To shake things up I’m trying an experiment: for the remainder of 2011 I will only listen to music released in 2011. This is an account of the year.
This Week’sPast Purchases
Observant readers probably noticed I did not post last week. March 8 put the weak in week – there wasn’t a single thing I thought was worth buying. However, the 15th bounced back strong and we’ve got a couple great new releases to draw your attention to.
The Golem
Black Francis
Buy It
There were two Black Francis releases this week: The Golem, a widespread release of the 2008 soundtrack created for the 1920 silent German expressionist film The Golem: How He Came Into The World which was released as a limited edition in 2010 exclusively through the Black Francis website, and Abbabubba, a collection of b-sides, demos, and other assorted tracks also first released in 2010 as part of the Black Francis website relaunch. I not only found The Golem to be the more interesting of the two, I found it to be the best album I listened to all week. There’s a clear enthusiasm in the musical interplay between all the participants. Expect crunchy guitars, a soulful saxophone, and even some erratic lead lines that would make Stephen Malkmus envious. What’s made me love the album the most though is the proliferation of hooks – this sounds less like a soundtrack than a collection of really great songs that just happen to go with a movie. I was disappointed with the staying power of last year’s Nonstoperotik (which petered out of my playlists a month after it’s release) so the strength of The Golem has been a most welcome treat.
You can watch the full film with the Black Francis score here. A sampling:
Life Is Beautiful
The Idle Hands
Buy It
It’s difficult to figure out how much I like Life Is Beautiful for itself and how much I like it for the obvious Pulp influence on tracks like “Uptown Burning.” I can’t say that the band has developed an original voice yet but there they do have an enjoyable one and for an EP length release that’s good enough for me.
MP3: The Idle Hands – Socialite Death Squad
Brown Shark, Red Lion
Eksi Ekso
Buy It
Brown Shark, Red Lion defies description for a large part – it stands on its own so much there’s almost little point in talking about it. It’s certainly the most perplexing release of the week, in a good way. I also like the drums.
MP3: Eksi Ekso – Kills Of The Flood Tide
MP3: Eksi Ekso – Carte de Visite
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This Week’s Best MP3s
MP3: J Mascis – Not Enough
I passed on the new J Mascis album Several Shades Of Why this week, but “Not Enough” is a great track worth your notice. Mascis’s breaking voice is an appealing compliment to the simple acoustic guitar and back vocals.
MP3: Maritime – Paraphernalia
There’s a definite New Order vibe going on here, which is a fine way to end another week.
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