The Last Drop

New Issue: Phoenix

TopDrop — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 04:26:38 +0000

Phoenix, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix – I started this post almost a 7 months ago. It’s tough to see good musc reviews languish in queue for ages. Since I’m in the mood for emancipaton and such, I’m freeing my back log of posts.

Yet another shout out to the MMC folks for sending this along back in Spring. I have a feeling that 2009 will be remembered as the year Minneapolis set all of my trends. When was the last time the Midwest was more progressive than California? Ah yes, Iowa has a little something to say about that… So it goes without saying, that this album is pretty stellar. In an unassumingly stellar way. Some say this would be the French appeal (see exhibits Daft Punk, Air, and Justice ). I say it all started with the end of the Strokes. Well, they never ended, but they faded extraordinarily. In this void of leadership in independent rock, Phoenix arose (yes, I DID get a corny, ubiquitous mythological reference in. I feel the giant hand patting my back). Extremely listenable yet not widely recognized (until an intern at GM went to CMJ and raved about it a little too much at the office). Catchy in the best possible sense. And, they’re French. What else do you need? Apparently not much. Me, I think it is very solid. It lacks a certain silliness that I’m fond of these days. But ultimately, it’s completely worthwhile and will most likely have some staying power. Or at least cause a few “ahh, that takes me back, what a good album”. Most will put this album in their tops of 2009. I may reserve a spot, but it won’t be at the top.

Is it the 4th? What happened?

TopDrop — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 09:58:06 +0000

You blink and half a year passes. Worse yet, it takes a long weekend, exposed bone on my shin and a late night to provide the illumination of my priorities in life – eat, sleep, hike (the exposed bone as testament), listen, review. Now I know that this isn’t particularly novel (yeah, I tried the ol’ resurrection idea before) so I’ll keep this brief. I’m been steadily noticing all of this greatness that is abound from dear friends. You want names? Well, Toni, I have to say jealousy is all I have with your daring to take 6 months off to travel AND write about it (2 continents and counting…). And is that you Nina, heading off to your fashion design career in Italy? Yeah, that’s right. And then here is another reminder of all the missed opportunities to share in the glory that is music. Essentially, this is all an elaborate boot to get me out of the mindset that it’s too hard to keep up with everything. What is all this everything? And why is it taking up so much time? Just a poor excuse for not focusing on what I love. So let’s try getting back to this shall we? Everybody hold hands. And wait for more to come.

Other Top Drops: Cover Me Bad

TopDrop — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:14:05 +0000

Continuing in my further neglect of actual album review lists for 2009, I choose to propagate badness. As in album artwork. Which never ceases to produce laughter year after year. That moment when someone said “yes, that’s EXACTLY what I want” to bird nest on there forehead will always remind me that artists are a rare breed . My personal favorite happens to be the very first one on the list. Diana, I had to stick it to The Boss. Simply ludacrous. No one’s working on that dream.

How did Adam Lambert not make this list???

New Issue: Grizzly Bear

TopDrop — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:55:15 +0000

Grizzly Bear, Vekatimist – Part II of MMC donations to the charity of my music library. OK, I get it. I get that this is an important album. If Animal Collective hadn’t ruined everyone’s year, Grizzly would have stolen top spot. The composition is there. The lyrics are good. The vocals are impeccable. But I can’t (try as I might) fall in love with this album. I’ve been racking my brain as to why this doesn’t work for me to no avail. I’ve put it on repeat for the last 48 hours and still no lightning rod moment of clarity has come. I think this is the beauty and curse of music. Even when you know that the technical brilliance is there, it’s simply a personal matter of taste. I would never discourage anyone from not getting this album (if you were hoping Fleet Foxes would muscle up and start eating meat, you will surely be happy with Vekatimist) but I can’t give a solid case for loving it. There will be many others to do this in the coming weeks, so I will leave my lukewarm regard at this. But wait. One last quick dig. You know, I think I prefer Menomena to this stuff. It’s weird and schizophrenic, but it was polarizing. I guess my intuition was right way back then.

New Issue: Royksopp

TopDrop — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:01:13 +0000

Royksopp, Junior – This is why long distance relationships work. Yet another golden recommendation from the MMC (much love to Mike B in particular) that has stayed with me for months. Sidenote – if you are inclined to pay attention to my ramblings, you will soon see a flurry of reviews from the 2009 bounty of albums sent with love from Minneapolis (or Philly, Berkeley, and anywhere else our association has expanded to).

For those of you who are joining in because of my Amoeba patronization proclamation, this is not one of the new ones. Rather, it is old enough to be a treasure for 2009. It’s up there with Karen O’s comeback as well used within my personal stables of good music for the year. Maybe more so than others. Why? Well,

This is my year of the dance music revival. All I’ve been listening to as of late has been uptempo movers. I guess this is my way of handling a down economy.
I told you about my love affair with Sweden and pop, right? Just checking. Oh wait, they’re from Iceland. Same difference. And Robyn’s track is killer.
I needed it. I needed this. I needed something so deftly genre trouncing yet familiar that would move me in ways unexplainable and yet be easy enough to put on when I feel a Taebo workout is in order (you know you still have a tape sitting around. Don’t lie. Dude sold over a billion tapes. Check your old book bag.)

A lot of this preamble is to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this album. Much like Basement Jaxx, Royksopp seem to find an elusive happy medium between pure dance/electronic music and pop that finds a new way of expressing a point of view that you didn’t know you wanted but can’t let go. Their choice of vocalists are always spot on. Maybe I’m very aware of this since I spent the weekend testing out Tiesto’s latest creation. Now, there really isn’t much room for comparison but I did find that as a whole, I appreciated Junior‘s attention to detail over the bombastic nature of anthemic dance. You know, you don’t always have to be in a club or at the gym to want good synths. Moreover, you can squeeze someone genuine songwriting in over looped drums if you try hard enough. Now, not all songs live up to this muster, but what effort was used I appreciated. They sold this dream world and I bought it. Sometimes this dream world was a nasty one (Robots do hurt) and that sealed the album’s validity. Utterly listenable and undated.

And to top it off, they have a sense of humor.

Drop Kick: Ninja on the Brain

TopDrop — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:50:26 +0000

As if it’s not enough to have a totally absurd movie that purports everything wrong with the American pension for mashups (read: cutting corners, being lazy, and other silliness), I had to go and get this stuck in my head. Luckily, I used this as an opportunity to share my culture with Guillermo. This is my youth.

Back to the Future

TopDrop — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 07:31:28 +0000

Around this time of year, everyone starts recapping their favs of the year/decade/any other irrelevant time period that can be discussed ad nauseum on the blogosphere and over leftover turkey. The fine folks at Stereogum are taking things a step in the other (and frankly more exciting) direction by recapping a basic human instinct: anticipation. A present to the future. Why not indulge in the speculation of greatness, particularly when it seems like so much can go right in 2010. With an early lineup of some youngins (Panda Bear, MGMT, Yeasayer) and some vintage inspirations (Massive Attack!, Avalanches) we are sure to have a resurgence of great music. Finally, Animal Collective will not be the de facto leader (although they are coming out with some hotness too) for best of the year.

Start smacking your lips and getting your eMusic downloads in order

New Issue: Yeah Yeah Yeahs

TopDrop — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:58:37 +0000

Yeah Yeah Yeahs,It’s Blitz! - I KNOW! How many years ago did I get this album? Less than one, I promise you. As most music reports are readying their best of lists, I’m still working on getting out reviews from early releases from 2009. At least I’m not as bad as last year. Anywho, I am particularly satisfied by the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s re-emergence as the crowned leaders of rock. I really did underestimate Karen O. A superstar in all facets – boundless energy matched with striking lyrics and timely subtleties. Not only are their live performance unbeatable by most standards, they still manage to crank out excitement on an album. Gone is the Fever to Tell garage aesthetic – rough cuts, rapid fire rhythms and a whole bucket of angst (x “Maps”). Bring on danceable rock, but not in a fleeting Franz Ferdinand way (I still have love for “Take Me Out”, don’t worry). “Zero”, one of the best singles of 2009 ,is full on pop, but so much better. Karen O has a way of taking the most mundane melody (which “Zero” is NOT) and making it sublime with her fierce, raw phrasing. You rarely see this strength in a female singer which makes her stand out that much more. Sidenote – You know, it’s kind of nice being a woman sometimes. I don’t think this album could really work with any other way. If only there were more female lead singers I could mention…

The album does not let down after “Zero”. It covers a surprisingly large range of genre and texture within 10 songs. Fascinating, if not admirable. It proves that age and greater production skills do not always diminish energy from a proven artist.

Also, did you check out the cover art? I mean, this is why CDs still exist, right?!

Resurrection

TopDrop — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:16:40 +0000

Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to Bone, Thugs, and Harmony’s Crossroads and it hit me. No, I don’t need to start preaching to friends in the hood about ending senseless gang violence. Yes, I need to start acting swiftly, particularly with getting this blog back on track. So here I am, inspired by a Grammy Award winning song and ready to bring my fledgling insights on music back to my (fictitious) fan base.

A quick note: A big thank you to all who have pushed, prodded, nagged, and generally questioned me on when I was going to get back into the swing of this blog thing. The renewed focus will hopefully be apparent and I’m excited by the adventure of WordPress

The Witch Hunt Begins

TopDrop — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:34:00 +0000

I’ve been casually following the lawsuit of the woman in MN who was accused of file sharing on Kazaa some 50 billion years ago. Low and behold the labels win. Massively. In MN?! I thought y’all were nice. Anywho, it’s now game on for the record industry. With precedent, who knows who or where they can target next (college campuses seem like a ripe playground for picking off innocent freeloaders…).

Kazaa! You now owe $2 million.