Top 20 of 2011

Here's the Manager Picks, NOT including any various artists compilations, singles collections or REISSUES. The Reissues are their own category. But if you missed any of these picks this year, stock up while we're in the new releases doldrums!
Happy New Year!!!!



#1 The Horrors--Skying




#2? Polly Jean Harvey--Let England Shake




#3 Lady Gaga--Born This Way (I know you guys are gonna barf, but hey, we need 1 pop LP)




#4 St.Vincent--Strange Mercy




#5 LCD Soundsystem--London Sessions




#6 The Field--Looping State of Mind




#7 Wagonchrist--Toomorrow




#8 M83--Hurry Up, We're Dreaming




#9 Battles--Gloss Drop




#10 Cut Copy--Zonoscope




#11 A Tie!! Thee Oh Sees' Castlemania and Carrion Crawler/Dream




#12 Tom Waits--Bad As Me




#13--Little Dragon--Ritual Union



#14 Brian Eno--Drums Between the Bells




#15 Disk Jokke--Sagura



#16 Tim Hecker--Ravedeath, 1972




#17--Bjork--Biophilia




#18 Gil Scott-Heron & Jamie XX--We're New Here




#19 Holy Ghost--Holy Ghost




#20 David Lynch--Crazy Clown Time

What if We All Stopped Paying Taxes?

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are probably one of the best current bands that are making soul music today. Whenever someone would cite Amy Winehouse in the beginning of her huge success, I would always turn them in the direction of Sharon Jones. Few singers as skilled as Sharon Jones at stuffing notes with ache and meaning might be willing to invest in a sound so fully occupied by the likes of Bettye LaVette and Tina Turner in the Ike years, too. She was born in Augusta, Georgia, sang in her church choir and with the support of her community she got the nerve she needed to move to Brooklyn with her family and there she immersed herself in 70's disco and funk and planned to make her own record. She got steady work as a backup singer for gospel, soul, disco, and blues artists, most of it uncredited. In the '80s, however, Jones' sound was deemed unfashionable, and instead of pushing ahead with her soul diva's dream she went back to church singing. She also took a job as a corrections officer at New York's Rykers Island.

It wasn't until the late 90's that Desco Records would discover Jones and she released several singles with the labels' house band, the Soul Providers. During this time she began to be known as the "Queen of Funk". It wasn't until 2002 that she released her first full length release, Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. Since then she has toured extensively and made follow up albums, 100 Days, 100 Nights and Learned the Hard Way.

There is nothing modern about Soul Time!, yet it sounds both refreshing and contemporary. The exceptional musicianship and impeccable vocals may not be to everyone’s taste, but for 40 very happy minutes, you can revel in SJDK’s very discrete world.

Just how does one pick a soul track? I went by the title, which was unexpected for me, to find the band jammin' out to some current events and getting political. I didn't think someone could sing a song about taxes since the Beatle's Tax Man.
Lend me your ears!



Buy your copy of Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' Soul Time! here.

Douche Beat

French producer Mr. Oizo has been kicking techno's ass since 1997, getting his start directing the video for Laurent Garnier's "Flashback" single, as well as the long-form video Nightmare Sandwiches starring and featuring music by Garnier. That year, he also moved into music production, with his debut single "#1" appearing on Garnier's F Communications label. After the video, he was tapped to direct the commercial that launched Levi's vaunted non-denim line of trousers. The eccentric advert -- featuring a puppet named Flat Eric maniacally bobbing his head to the music in the passenger seat of a Chevelle while a nonplussed human driver concentrated on the road -- soon became famous across Europe, and the single (also on F Communications) hit number one all across the continent. The rest, as they say, is history, as his debut album, Analog Worms Attack came out the following October.

If I had to categorize Mr. Oizo's newest album, Stage 2, into a genre, perhaps tech-house would be an apt suitor. I tend to think of it as whacked out, glitchy, tongue-in-cheek techno, A.D.D.-addled and quick to jump onto the next thing. It's unlike anything out in the mainstream and has a lot of frenetic qualities. I am quite amused by "Douche Beat", the featured track. For those that do not know, I am (not so) secretly plotting to overthrow Skrillex and Deadmau5 someday...and here's Mr. Oizo beating me to the punch with a song that sums up a lot of the current club scene.

Have fun with this.


Email me, marta@alternativemusic.com to special your copy!!

Sister

The Black Keys are back and this time they have enlisted the help of super-producer Dangermouse!!! Ah yes, that's why it sounds less bluesy-soulful like Brothers and more polished and with added flair containing layers of cheap organs, fuzz guitars, talk boxes, backing girls, tambourines, foot stomps, and handclaps. 'This is not the Black Keys I know and love', you say, but alas, the distinguishable retro vibe is still there amidst all the bells and whistles that Dangermouse brings.

Upon first listen, I really wasn't so sure about this one. My reaction was "ehh" as it has been with their previous albums. Yet as I hear it more and more within the shop, the pop "fungus" created by Dangermouse grows on me and I can't help but to hum along and sing a word or two, even when I think I am not paying attention. I can't help but to notice the arrangements of the songs--they seem to be arranged in groups of threes that go together. The mini-groupings within the album seem to sound the same and then they move onto something else; some organ, some 80s rock, something a bit more like a ballad. There is some sort of bygone era pastiche going on here, like playing like a collection of 11 lost 45 singles, each one having a bigger beat or dirtier hook than the previous side. All that sad, this is an addictive little album. I wanted to avoid it amidst its hype, but I can't get some of these buggers out of my head. Watch out!

Here's one to get stuck in ye olde noggin:


Buy your copy of El Camino at the shop or here (the booklet features all pix of, you guessed it, El Caminos!)

Tomorrow Comes Today

While this is not new material, I still feel the new Gorillaz Singles Collection is worthy of this week's pick. It has all the jamz, in chronological order, which I like. We can trace their steps from "Clint Eastwood" to "Dare" to "On Meloncholy Hill". Gorillaz is far and away the most successful of Damon Albarn's side projects, selling millions of records worldwide, headlining Glastonbury and Coachella, and holographically sharing a Grammys stage with Madonna. The group's artistic success has also kept pace with its commercial success, giving Albarn a way to combine most of his musical distractions into an oddly cohesive whole. In retrospect, the key to the project may have been enabling Albarn to abandon the frontman role and become the man behind the curtain, both figuratively and (up until recent live shows) literally. If you don't think that hiding place isn't therapeutic for Albarn, consider that Think Tank, the 2003 Blur album that essentially became an Albarn solo joint, also attempted to blend all of these interests, to less satisfying results.

The oldest songs don't even sound dated. That's why I've selected "Tomorrow Comes Today" as the featured track; it's just as great today as it was back then, cruising around with the windows rolled down.


Buy your copy of Gorillaz Singles Collection here.