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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Atmosphere

  • SonicClash Best of 2008: Greg’s Turn

    Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone. Our own Greg Harrell has passed on his own indie-tastic list of his favorites of 2008. Have a look-see, won’t you?

    20.) Atmosphere – When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold

    19.) The Verve – Forth

    18.) Raphael Saadiq – The Way I See it

    17.) Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line

    16.) Coldplay – Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends

    15.) Robyn – Robyn

    14.) Bloc Party – Intimacy

    13.) The Streets – Everything Is Borrowed

    12.) Shearwater – Rook

    11.) ohGr – Devils in my Details

    10.) The Mars Volta – The Bedlam In Goliath

    Were it not for a handful of shitty songs, this would easily be album of the year. “Metatron” is the greatest thing anybody recorded in 2008, and when this record’s on, it’ll give you seizures. Seriously, Curtis Mayfield could’ve written “Goliath” after a weekend of dropping acid in the desert. Occultist prog-rock doesn’t get any better.

    9.) Sigur Ros – Med Sud I Eryum Vid Spilium Endalaust

    This record is every bit as “Sigur Ros” as anything these crazy Icelandic bastards have done in the past: meaning it sounds very much like pop music from some beautiful alien civilization. Still, the band decided to throw in a few curveballs, and it definitely sounds much…earthier than anything else they’ve done, probably because the sweeping electric guitars of yore have been replaced with acoustics. Surprisingly, they pull the folky direction off beautifully. The sweet ballad “Illgresi” has made it onto just about every mixtape I’ve burned this year, “Gobbledigook” is a gleeful sprint through the woods, and the angelic explosion of “Ara batur” is just paralyzingly beautiful. I don’t know what the hell world these guys inhabit, but I’d sure like to visit it someday.

    8.) TV on the Radio – Dear Science

    Depending on whose reading this, you either have no idea who the fuck TV on the Radio is or you’ve had the brilliance of this record shoved down your throat so many times that you’re completely sick of it. So yeah, TV on the Radio experiments with dance / disco / afro-beat / new wave, everybody loves it and I’m already sick of talking about it.

    7.) Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak

    I wasn’t as scared of this record as a lot of people were. I dug “Love Lockdown” from the get go, and figured if anyone could make a great record out of the autotune it would be Kanye. Sure enough, he proved me right. If for whatever reason you haven’t heard this yet, “808s & Heartbreak” finds Mr. West going a more somber route. Yeah, there’s singing; yeah, there’s heartbreak; yeah, there are 808s too incidentally enough. I don’t know if this as radical as some people have made it out to be, seeing as there are at least four great singles on this album, but whether you love the man or hate him, you’ve gotta respect his artistic daring. I mean, how many times has Kanye reinvented his style now? Exactly. I don’t really know where to place the sound of this record: somewhere between the “walking through the streets at night contemplating what an utter failure your life has become” sound of Burial’s last record, the catchier side of Depeche Mode and the more Eurocentric songs from “Graduation.” It’s a hell of a statement, and nobody other than Kanye West could’ve possibly made it.

    6.) Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!

    Imagine “Highway 61 Revisited” plowed into the Doors’ self-titled record. “Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!” is the result.

    5.) Beck – Modern Guilt

    Beck writes a bunch of apocalyptic songs and gets Dangermouse to provide some colorful and vaguely psychedelic beats. Naturally, the result is brilliance.

    4.) Q-Tip – The Renaissance

    The only legitimately great hip-hop record released this year (“808s” is a little too leftfield to qualify as hip-hop exclusively). Q-Tip does something that not too many pioneers of the genre are willing to do: he looks forward instead of trying to plagiarize himself. The result is an excellent hip-hop medley, sometimes jazzy, sometimes soulful, always electrifying. Tip puts everybody doing this to shame so astoundingly, and so effortlessly, it’s almost humbling.

    3.) Portishead – Third
    Speaking of leftfield comebacks, holy shit this record is amazing. Considering that trip-hop (which isn’t really a genre but let’s pretend it is for a sentence) has essentially been left to fester in a ditch, I can’t say I was expecting Portishead to pull off a masterpiece. But lo and behold they did. Beth Gibbons sounds as lovely as ever, and the other two guys still know how to convert dank and despair into beauty. From the shimmering “Hunter” to the bubbling “Rip” to the foggy “Small,” there’s not a bad song here. Proof that your musical idols aren’t always content to just sit on their asses and exploit their legacies.

    2.) Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago

    The sound of a white wolf pawing at the moon. Music don’t get much sadder and wintry than this.

    1.) Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid

    How the hell have these guys not blown up yet? Seriously, “Grounds for Divorce” alone should have made them a household name. Well, unless Judd Apatow decides to use one of their songs to promote his next movie, I guess these guys are gonna have to remain a secret. “The Seldom Seen Kid” goes everywhere: one track you’re soaring through space, the next you’re getting stretched through a funhouse mirror. One minute you’re sitting on top of a skyscraper, the next you’re walking past a friend’s grave. And so on. Guy Garvey is an absolutely brilliant songwriter, and the lyrics wash through you as if the feelings were your own. As a singer, he’s capable of evoking both the tenderness of Chris Martin and the swagger of Peter Gabriel (who I guess could be tender too but…um…). If you’ve yet to hear this, then look up the dazzling “Mirrorball.” If that song doesn’t move you then I don’t want to share the same…planet as you. Get out.

  • The Sunday Seven: Relax Yourself Girl, Please Settle Down

    Hey Folks, I’ve been asking for volunteers to put their iPods on shuffle and let me know what they’re listening to (in totally random fashion, of course), and lo and behold, somebody bit!

    Ladies & Gentlemen, coming straight out of the Jersey suburbs, here’s my boy Kyle, taking over the Sunday Shuffle from me. Kyle is a full-on hip-hop head, although he’s also enjoyed music by everyone from John Mayer to Ben Folds (which means that this is someone who has damn good taste in music similar tastes in music to mine). Take it away, Kyle!!

    Aight, since my iPod lacks a working skip button thanks to a dumb decision I once made to listen to it during a long walk during a rainy vacation day I was thinking about listening via iTunes, but decided I might as well just listen to it through my iHome. There are plenty of times I skip songs just to get to ones I wanna hear, so I am not doing that today.

    “Puppy Chow” – Common: Maybe it’s finally time I try to write a review of “Can I Borrow A Dollar?” (although one of these days I also have to do “One Day It’ll All Make Sense”.) I’m sure as of now there are plenty of people ready and willing to write an essay comprising 24 paragraphs about how and why Common has fallen off (even though I’m worried about his new album too) but I won’t go into detail about that right now, I’ll fight temptation. This song is fun and has a lot of Common’s hard-to-describe old style, but it’s definitely not as memorable as some of my favorite tracks on his debut.

    “Electric Relaxation” – A Tribe Called Quest: I’ve been meaning to pull out my copy of “The Low End Theory” for weeks (although I do think “Midnight Marauders” is better.) My opinion of this song is no different from any other big hip-hop head/Tribe fan, and it also has a classic Phife Dawg punchline, great stories from both emcees (I’m relistening to Q-Tip’s November solo album to see how much I like it) and I accidentally once found out the actual words they say in the chorus. There’s actually been a remake of the song by producer Marco Polo and J*Davey (that I thought wasn’t too good) and I think it’s also been sampled a few times in hip-hop songs as well. Probably the best song on their best album.


    “Mama Had A Baby And It’s Head Popped Off” – Atmosphere    : Not my favorite Atmosphere song (off my favorite Atmosphere album – their debut “Lucy Ford”.) It’s got some interesting lyrics from Slug regarding God and politics, but the beat is just sinister and not something I really like. I don’t know what else to say about this one…wish a better song from them came up here.


    “The Definition” – DJ Jazzy Jeff & Kel Spencer    : The emcee Kel Spencer (ed.: Isn’t Kel Spencer the dude who was on “All That” with Kenan Thompson back in the 90s?) raps over some pianos and DJ scratches here about observing the bad habits and trends perpetuated by wack emcees around him, and how he doesn’t like being overlooked by them. Jeff’s last album, “The Return of the Magnificent” was started off by lesser-known rappers like Kel (that has so far been the only time I’ve heard him) but still was one of 2007’s best, and perfect to listen to during a long-ass road trip (the album concept was that Jeff was forced to listen to the radio during a trip between Philly and Florida because there was no CD changer in his rent-a-car.)

    “Final Frontier” – Blueprint & RJD2    : I want Soul Position to release another album, and I also want to know whether or not it has been confirmed that RJD2 is no longer doing hip-hop producing. This is kind of a tough song to describe thanks to Blueprint’s unusual lyrics, which some people could say are obviously pretentious. Blueprint also needs to release another album – it’s been pushed back for years. He’s done better than this song, but it’s still enjoyable (although the best performance on “Deadringer”, RJ’s first album which this is on, is from Copywrite on “June”…but that’s another story.)

    Final Frontier – RJD2

    “American Dreamin” – Jay-Z: This song is kinda moody. Jay rhymes about trying his hardest in the New York grind he’s detailing, and he sounds good throughout the whole song (even though there are many other tracks I’d rather listen to from “American Gangster”.) Considering Nas and Kanye West dropped great albums I was really anxious about this year, hopefully Jay will next year.

    “Inherited Scars” – Sage Francis: Damn, had to end this on a depressing note. And I’ve been in a decent mood today so far too. He’s an easy artist to play when you want self-pity or are reflecting about your life’s misfortunes, but here he’s kinda vulnerable, talking about a secret his sister told him about a deadly habit of hers and is not sure what to do about the situation. The lyrics are fantastic as is the message, and he details what he’s feeling and what he expects his sister is feeling, hoping for empathy from her side. I’m gonna have to listen to some more happy music soon.

    Inherited Scars – Sage Francis

    There ya go, folks. Thanks Kyle, for sharing at least a portion of your music collection with us. Now that someone has thrown down the gauntlet. Anyone else wanna share? You know where to find me.

  • Chart Chat 5/4/08: Madonna, Jesse McCartney, Static Major And More!!


    Hey folks:

    Courtesy of the good folks at Billboard magazine, I bring you (drumroll…) this week’s Top 20 singles and albums!!

    We’ll start with the albums chart:

    1) “E=MC2” Mariah Carey
    2) “Spirit” Leona Lewis
    3) “Flight of the Concords” Flight of the Concords
    4) “Bittersweet World” Ashlee Simpson
    5) “When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold” Atmosphere
    6) “Now That’s What I Call Music 27” Various Artists
    7) “Juno” Soundtrack
    8) “Troubadour” George Strait
    9) “Taylor Swift” Taylor Swift
    10) “Prayer of a Common Man” Phil Vassar
    11) “Best of Both Worlds Concert” Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus
    12) “Alvin & The Chipmunks” Soundtrack
    13) “Sunset Man” James Otto
    14) “Sleep Through The Static” Jack Johnson
    15) “Trilla” Rick Ross
    16) “Lady Antebellum” Lady Antebellum
    17) “Accelerate” R.E.M.
    18) “The Black Swan” Story of the Year
    19) “Call Me Irresponsible” Michael Buble
    20) “Jordin Sparks” Jordin Sparks

    Top 20 Singles:

    1) “Bleeding Love” Leona Lewis
    2) “Lollipop” Lil’ Wayne feat. Static Major
    3) “No Air” Jordin Sparks/Chris Brown
    4) “4 Minutes” Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake
    5) “Love in This Club” Usher feat. Young Jeezy
    6) “Sexy Can I” Ray J. feat. Yung Berg
    7) “Touch My Body” Mariah Carey
    8) “Love Song” Sara Bareilles
    9) “Forever” Chris Brown
    10) “With You” Chris Brown
    11) “Low” Flo-Rida feat. T-Pain
    12) “See You Again” Miley Cyrus
    13) “Say” John Mayer
    14) “Leavin’” Jesse McCartney
    15) “Damaged” Danity Kane
    16) “Don’t Stop The Music” Rihanna
    17) “Stop & Stare” OneRepublic
    18) “The Boss” Rick Ross feat. T-Pain
    19) “Pocketful of Sunshine” Natasha Bedingfield
    20) “What You Got” Colby O’ Donis feat. Akon

    *Nope, I don’t know who Colby O’ Donis is either. But…his song features Akon, so I also really don’t care who he is. But here’s his video in case you’re interested.

    *Chris Brown has three songs in this week’s Top 10. Is it safe to say Chris Breezy is going to be the 2008 version of T-Pain?

    *One thing I neglected to mention last week (and thanks to Joel Whitburn’s Chart Beat Chat column for making me aware of this), is that Static Major, who guests on Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop” (down 1 spot to #2 this week), is the seventh artist to hit #1 on the singles chart posthumously, following Otis Redding, Janis Joplin, John Lennon, Jim Croce, The Notorious B.I.G. and Soulja Slim. Static, who was better known as a songwriter (Aaliyah’s “Are You That Somebody?” and “Try Again”) was also 1/3 of the singing group Playa, who had a hit with “Cheers 2 U” a decade or so ago.

    *Jesse McCartney becomes the latest former boy-bander to achieve chart salvation. Not only is he new in the Top 20 with “Leavin”‘” (which auomatically becomes his highest charting single), but he also has a co-write on the #1 single, Leona Lewis’s “Bleeding Love”. Not bad for the kid who was the lead singer of D-list boy band Dream Street.

    *Latest annoying song to finally get the chart boot: “Apologize” by Timbaland & OneRepublic.

    *How weird was it to see Madonna on “106 & Park” this week? Particularly in light of her work with Justin Timberlake, who has unofficially been banned from the network in light of his participation in “Nipplegate”?

    *Finally, a big shout to the duo of Atmosphere, who score one of the surprise debuts of the year (with one of the best album titles of the year, too!!). Definitely a good look for indie/backpacker rap!!