Every year, I design what ends up being a 6-cd best-of-the-previous-year mix. I have several friends who want all six, another several who like to receive samplings therefrom. I design one set in February, another in August or so (giving me further time to explore, as I don’t assume I’ll discover all my favorite music in the calendar year it happens to be released in). I’m told, and choose to believe, that I’m very good […]
Artist: Animal Collective
Album: Centipede Hz
Animal Collective’s overall musical style has centered from the start on trebly, percussive yet wibbly-wobbly songs with a powerful hippie vibe. If I played Centipede Hz for fifty random newcomers, telling them sincerely that it’s happy-sounding music, I’d expect a little argument about “happy-sounding” (there can be an anxious undertow, sure), but more argument about “music”. They’ve been a critical favorite since their 2000 debut Spirit They’ve Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished was […]
Artist: Propagandhi
Album: Failed States
Propagandhi are a good band. Given my tastes, I doubt I’d keep buying each new album of theirs if I didn’t care about their lyrics, but maybe; they’re a good band. Starting off with a 1993 album as a primitivist hardcore punk group who couldn’t sustain songs for two minutes and rarely tried, they’ve learned structure, drama, pacing, and many chords they didn’t begin with. Chris Hannah’s singing is still punk-shouty, melodic by […]