Anticipated Albums of (Early) 2013

Here's to the new year.


A$AP Rocky - Long Live A$AP 



Long Live A$AP, the long awaited, frequently delayed debut album from Harlem's self-proclaimed prettiest MC, is out January 15.  On the eponymous first single, not much has changed from his mixtape Live Love A$AP; he still boasts of pulling himself up by his own Jordans, drinking drank and the hard life. But the rhymes are stronger, the hooks hit harder and the beat - produced by Jim Jonson and Rico Love - lays down a mean landscape on which A$AP pronounces himself King.


Christopher Owens - Lysandre



After releasing two albums and an EP with Girls, the gentle giant of the San Francisco scene, Christopher Owens has left to make it on his own. And as one of the most honest and intimate songwriters working today, he should do just fine. On Lysandre, out January 15th, Owens tackles his experiences from the first Girls' tour on a promising conceptual debut.



Local Natives - Hummingbird



Back in October, I had the pleasure of seeing Local Natives perform their new material for the first time. Three part harmonies, arrangements that would make Phil Spector quiver in his cell, a refined songwriting style (i.e. drum breakdown no longer necessary in every song) the energy of their first show in ten months, that mustache - it all came together to form my favorite show of the year. Hummingbird, their followup to oh nine's Gorilla Manor, debuts January 29th.



Iceage - You're Nothing



In 2011, a quartet of Danish teenagers called Iceage released New Brigade, a visceral attack of an album combining the intelligence of post punk with the speed and aggression of hardcore. With You're Nothing (February 19) we can only hope the band combine the controlled violence of their first effort with the tightness forged from two years of touring.



The Knife - Shaking the Habitual 




It's about time. Shaking the Habitual (April 9) is the first album we've seen from the Swedish duo since the Bush era Silent Shout.

KRTU Indie Overnight Listener's List: Top Albums of 2012

Tired of "expert" opinionaters and their picks for the end of the year? Now it's your turn. Indie Overnight is thrilled to present our first annual Listener's List, where you choose the best albums of the year. And if we dig your list, we might just play it on-air.

http://www.formstack.com/forms/?1352345-aMHo0q30Vb

Local Faves: 1-5

by: J.D. Swerzenski

Continuing the list of my top local records of the year, (part 1 here if you're not caught up) with the guys (and gal) who really knocked it out this year.  Again, listen in to hear all these artists and more featured tonight on the Slant from 10-Midnight on le KRTU 91.7FM, and through the Playback anytime here.

Now, where were we.

5. Last Nighters - Animal Room

Bunch of dudes live in the same host, listen to the same records, and jam out a lot. Add those ingredients, a healthy appreciation for a pop hook, and you've got Animal Room, the debut from upstarts the Last Nighters. Recorded, mixed, and released by the band, it's the kind of record that sounds gone over a hundred times, streamlined for maximum punch (see the soaring "Your Mind Is An Airplane" for proof). You don't get debuts much stronger than this.

4. Bad Breaks - Bad Breaks

Get the sneaking suspicion that you've seen Bad Breaks frontman Chuck Kerr somewhere before? Probably  because you totally have, as he's been parked behind the drum kit for probably 80% of every San Antonio band over the past few years. But Bad Breaks is his thing, a record that sees Kerr step away from the kit to display his considerable songwriting, singing and other instrumental talents. He's got a healthy love (alright, obsession) for Spoon, Randy Newman, and late 70s yacht rock (who doesn't?), but Bad Breaks exceeds the sum of its influences on the strength of it's smartly crafted set of songs, highlighted by the stomping "Get It Right" and the total Hall & Oates send-up "The Way Things Are" (sexy sax!) Plus, the album just got put out for free, so what have you got to loose?

3. Nicolette Good - Monarch

A remarkable fact about Nicolette Good is that she just started doing this singer/songwriter thing about 2 years ago. It didn't take her long to establish a rep as one of SA's most engaging voices, and with that in mind, Monarch feels like an official arrival. Backed with a a full band, and featuring some nice production finish, it's a fantastic sounding record. But Monarch is really all about Nicolette's songwriting, and from the  charming "Pretty Clementine," the instantly hummable "Son of My Sister," the soaring "Marathon, " and especially the heartbreaking "Hurricane Caroline," there's simply nobody else writing at her level.

2. Third Root - Stand For Something

No other act on this list offers a mission statement with their record, let alone one as lofty as "focus(ing) on the unity and healing of black and brown communities by fusing a cross-cultural soundtrack with progressive 

and lyrical Rhythm and.Poetry." None of this is empty liner notes language. The Third Root duo--Easy Lee Peters of the MoJoe and Mexican Step Grandfather--aim high and aim true: tackling heady topics from cultural identity, personal empowerment, and civic pride (see the SA's shoutout "Down in SA") with the lyrical ease of two vets. But Stand for Something is no lecture, and it's largely the soulful production touch of DJ Chicken George that keeps the record banging even with the message is heavy. Add in a slew of guests including Greg G, Henry + the Invisibles and accordion fiend Alvaro of Pinata Protest, and Stand for Something easily emerges as the hip-hop release this year.

1. Marcus Rubio - Hello Dallas

It took roughly two years and the subsequent threat of a move away from SA for Marcus to get his act together, but when he did, hooooly shit.After releasing the also very good odds n' ends collection None of the Birds, Rubio decamped to the studio to rush this bad boy out, nonchalantly emerging with best record to come out of SA this year. For anyone who has seen him along side his revolving Gospel Choir of Pillows cast, you'll likely know these songs, and know them as some of his strongest live cuts. But Hello Dallas isn't just a worthy capturing of these tracks, it's Rubio's wholly successful attempt at marrying his pop/rock sensibility with the more experimental and ambient works to which he's become increasingly fascinated. From the kraut-rock workout "Turn Right," the schizophrenic "Goddamn Respiratory,"to the gorgeous title track,  it's an effortless, brilliantly executed triumph. So what are you waiting for?

Local Faves: 6-10

by: J.D. Swerzenski

Alright everybody, how about this, we all take a brief pause from the Frank Ocean/Tame Impala/Fiona Apple-gushing that is best of 2012 list time, and do, well, another list. But this time around, we keep it in town, and extend a necessary salute some of the hometown heroes that knocked it out of the park this year with some stellar new releases. And my, my were their plenty for 2012.

Before we get into it, one bit of shameless self-promotion: all these bands will be featured during the Friday 10-Midnight hour as part of an endlessly special all-local edition of The Slant. So, like, listen. Here, I'll even give you the link.

Also, support these guys: go to their shows, buy their t-shirts, that sort of thing.

10. The Rich Hands - The Rich Hands EP

Bunch of dudes who aren't old enough to buy beer buy some guitars, bond over a love of Nuggets-era garage rock, and start cranking killer material out one 2 minute jam at a time. That's about all you need to know.

9. Chris Maddin - The Tiago Splitters

Since the dissolution of Blowing Trees following their fantastic 2009 effort Wolf Waltz and the Big Nothing Now (don't fret, they're performing together again), lead singer Chris Maddin worked as a journeyman of sorts, holding down a weekly residency at the Broadway 50/50 (highlighted his album project with drummer Chuck Kerr) and playing with Education and Loose Eel Ball. The Tiago Splitters is his long-overdue solo effort, and by my count, Maddin's first completely solo release to date. A far cry from the massive sounding Wolf Waltz, it's a relatively stripped down, straight-forward collection that effectively showcases his gift for earworms and deceptively clever songwriting. Plus no one in town has pipes like Maddin, as his howls on "Farewell Thee Analog" and "Dandelions and the Colombia" can attest.

8. Mission Complete - Emotionally Strong Enough to Be Your Man

Mission Complete isn't a new project; in fact it's been several years since singer/guitarist Ryan Teter (center) activated the project. But 2012 was go time for Mission Complete, with the trio storming around town playing gigs at a relentless pace. Those performances were breakneck, furious shows of pop-punk intensity, often highlighted by mustachioed drummer Rudy Villarreal exhibiting his innate talent for finding some ceiling fixture to swing from mid-show. With Emotionally Strong Enough to Be Your Man, the three-piece ably captures that live lightning in a bottle, their Warped Tour shout-along punk (of the Ted Leo variety mind you) honed for maximum impact on instant anthems "Metroplex" and "Keep It To Yourself."

7. We Leave At Midnight - We Leave At Midnight

To call WLAM frontman John Dailey (2nd from left) something of a music savant is likely the biggest understatement of this list: dude's got more gear than most Guitar Centers and a deeper understanding of Pet Sounds that Brian Wilson. That obsessive devotion to his craft is all too apparent in WLAM's self-titled debut, a meticulously arranged 9-song collection that bursts with about a hundred ideas at once, all while recalling (though never robbing) the sounds of the Beach Boys, the Byrds and maybe a little of the rougher side of the Neil Young catalog. Kudos as well to producer Jaime Radar (Morris Orchids), who no doubt slaved over the mix with Dailey to make sure every three-part harmony, dueling guitar interlude, and mid-song freak out was captured to a T.

6. Pop Pistol  - Animal Prisms

Given their extensive outreach efforts through Local 782, the several US tours they've logged, and the their implausibly impressive promotional presence (seriously, you seen their website?), you'd be forgiven for forgetting that it's been over four years since the Pistola boys have released a full-length LP. The wait is over friends, and the resulting Animal Prisms is more than sure to preserve the trio's reputation as SA's  most beloved local indie band this side of Buttercup. Though the sound is firmly rooted in the spacy, early-Muse inflected post-rock of their early material, the band finds ways to branch out beyond their tried-and-true style with wholly exciting results.



And Tune in for the conclusion of the list manana, with the Top 5 revealed!

Guest List: Top Ten of 2012, Dr. David Rando

10. Deerhoof - Breakup Song

There is indeed a “robot on the dance floor,” as Satomi Matsuzaki sings, but the ghost of Captain Beefheart was seen fiddling with its control panel. Only Deerhoof could produce such cracked and gloriously undanceable dance party songs.

9. Eve Risser, Benjamin Duboc & Edward Perraud - En Corps

This free jazz improvisation trio of prepared piano, bass, and drums is searching and restless and so strangely unsettling that you feel it en corps. Encore.

8. Aaron Dilloway - Modern Jester

Three years in the making, this glorious album offers nothing less than painstakingly composed loops of noise.

7. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music

 

“This album was created entirely by Jamie and Mike”: that’s hip-hop veterans, El-P and Killer Mike’s way of saying that they closed the studio doors behind them, put up career numbers, and they know it. Now you know it.

6. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Words Will Ever Do

 

Here are impeccable and obsessive falling-out-of-love songs built out of equal parts piano, percussion, and spite: “I just made a meal for us both to choke on.”

5. Mount Eerie - Clear Moon 

From plaintive folk songs smooth as stones to textured drones and crushed death metal monotones, Clear Moon sounds like the fibers of solitude brushed to a high mortal sheen.

4. Japandroids - Celebration Rock

 

“Remember that night you were already in bed / Said fuck it, got up to drink with me instead?” Yeah, it’s that kind of romantic indie rock album, but so thrillingly stylized and big chorus big that you find yourself believing that every nostalgic word of it will have been true. 

3. Neneh Cherry and the Thing - The Cherry Thing

 

This covers album pairs the 90s pop singer with the European free jazz trio that was inspired by her stepfather, Don Cherry, and produces a highly satisfying combination of avant-garde jazz and rock. The last cacophonic minutes of their cover of Suicide’s “Dream Baby Dream” are worth the cost of admission alone.

2. Death Grips - The Money Store

The Money Store's glitchy, abrasive hip-hop at first strikes one as incomprehensible, even repulsive, but eventually it creates a new itch that can only be scratched by itself. The best way to listen to this for the first time is certainly the tenth time.

1. Scott Walker - Bish Bosch

 

The twenty-minute centerpiece of this album allegorizes the relationship of the artist to the state by exploiting the coincidence that Zercon, Attila the Hun’s jester, and SDSS1416-13B, the coldest sub-stellar body yet discovered in the universe, are both “brown dwarves.” Against the backdrop of sleigh bells, the last track imagines Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu taking a personality test while meditating on the fact that his executioners didn’t even wait until “fire” before they shot him on Christmas morning. Then commences the most deadpan bar of “Jingle Bells” ever heard. Are we having fun yet? “O Not so much / O Very much.”

David Rando is an associate professor of English Literature at Trinity University with articles published on Thomas Pynchon, George Saunders, David Foster Wallace, and Neutral Milk Hotel's In the Aeroplane over the Sea.

Favorites 11/30

It's been awhile, forgive us.

Gang Starr - Words I Manifest / Action Bronson - Get Off My P.P.

 The bass line from A Night in Tunisia was born for rap samples. A+ for thinking ahead, Diz.

Metz - Rats

Back in 2009, Nirvana released Live at Reading, an album which found the band at its finest, their sound just plain gnarly. And in 2011, some teenagers from Copenhagen calling themselves Iceage debuted with New Brigade, an album as smart as it is mean.  And this year, the album that speaks to my particular flavor of heavy is Metz' eponymous first release on Sub Pop. On "Rats," Toronto's finest bend their instruments to their necks' breaking point as the guitar feels like reanimated Cobain.

Marine Girls - Honey

In 1981, two girls from the sleepy UK county of Hertfordshire - Tracey Thorn (Everything But the Girl) and Gina Hartman - unintentionally predicted the direction of early aught indie pop. With little ditties on love, the beach, and being lazy, Marine Girls could swap spit with the best of contemporary bands riffing on that summertime all-the-time sound. Slap a mean back beat on there and boom: Wild Nothing.

Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday

Step one to writing your very own dreamy indie pop tune: Backbeat. Dig that snare in on the two and the four, throw in some 60's surf fills and you're more than halfway there.

Favourites 10/12/12

No Rankings, No Best New, Just what we're digging.

Why? - Jonathan's Hope

I was talking to a friend last night about Yoni Wolf's songwriting and we came to the conclusion that in our combined lifetimes, we could never write a song like one of Yoni's. From his neurotic images that stick forever in your memory to the weird, structural shifts and insane rhythmic layering, Why?'s approach to songwriting is truly unique. You can catch the genre-melting Cincinnati dudes at Austin's Funfunfun Fest.

Ty Segall - The Hill

Damn Ty Segall, how'd you get so prolific? Twins is his third release of the year - and surprise! - it's killer. Bridgett Dawson of Thee Oh Sees joins Ty for this evil romp off his new record.

Tame Impala - Keep on Lying

"Keep on Lying" starts in media res 'cause they don't have time to fuck around. Lonerism is too good for fucking around.

Laurie Anderson - Language is a Virus

Imagine if Laurie Anderson was your grandma?  That scene in Beetlejuice where the fam' jams out to the Banana Boat Song would happen every family outing. And you wouldn't even need help from Alec Baldwin's ghost.

Favourites: 9/28

 No Ranking, No Best New, just what we're digging.

Melody's Echo Chamber - Endless Shore

Melody's Echo Chamber - maybe the most accurate band name since Funkadelic - just released their eponymous first album this last week. Produced by Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, it's a variant of the ever-expanding, ever-popular genre of Dream Pop that has yet to be explored: psyched-out, faded and fun.

Lou Reed - Andy's Chest

This jam single-handedly negates the damage from Loutallica.

Girls - Ghost Mouth

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Just Like Honey

These are my two favorite appropriations of the 50's pop triple bass hit to single snare and/or tambourine combo. Where The Jesus and Mary Chain milk their distorted rendition for all it's worth, Girls use the beat as the foundation for "Ghost Mouth," wandering out into solos and refrains before coming back to it. It's simple and slow and structures each song beautifully.

 SSION - Luvvbazaar


OMG, guilty pleasure. SSION, the middle America elctro-Hunx, released Bent this September.

Favourites 9/14

 No Rankings, No Best New, just what we're digging.

Death Grips - @Death Grips



Prior to Death Grip's 2011 mixtape Exmilitary, who would have guessed Zach Hill would be attached to one of the most progressive, abrasive hip-hop outfits around. Hill, known for slaying drums with the likes of
 Hella, Crime in Choir and Marnie Stern, took each band he played in to a new level of heavy. Check the way he transformed Wavves from snotty pop-punk to an attack on your head. Bored my ass. @Death Grips, the most recent installment of Adult Swim's killer Singles Series, restrains Mr. Hill, choosing instead to highlight the vocal sample and Stefan Bernett's hooks. Their second release in 2012 No Love Deep Web is in stores October 23rd.


Grizzly Bear - A Simple Answer



There's some material on Grizzly Bear's Shields that I just can't get into. A Simple Answer is not one of those songs.


 Talking Heads - Psycho Killer



I can't seem to find the track from David Byrne & St. Vincent's Love This Giant that I want to feature, so here's Psycho Killer for ole times sake. Also, because David Byrne is dressed like a total Dad.


Menomena - Capsule



Coolest Moms I ever seen. Moms is out September 18th.


Gang Gang Dance - Chinese High


 Each year, there's an amazing album that flies under (or over) my radar. Something I don't quite understand or don't hear about, or for whatever reason, choose to ignore. In 2010, I was listening to Japandroid's Post Nothing (2009). 2010's miss was LCD Soundsystem. Last year's was Eye Contact, Gang Gang Dance's most accessible and danceable release to date.  The Gang lay down an impressive, wild and weird approach, retaining the noisiness of their earlier releases while foraying into pop. And for Eye Contact, they get a pass on dressing like it's Eastern Europe of 1997.

Favourites 9/7

No Rankings, no Best New, just what we're digging.

Wild Nothing - Only Heather

The most recent installment in the Indie Rock Canon of Songs Named After Girls, Wild Nothing offer up a beautifully meaningless track off their dreamy, hazy sophomore LP Nocturne.

 Angel Olsen - Acrobat

 I've never been a singer-songwriter kind of gal, but when someone like Angel Olsen comes along with a hauntingly angelic song like Acrobat, I can't help but melt into it.

Cat Power - Manhattan

 

You say you got nothing to hide. Throughout her career as Cat Power, Chan Marshall has given away everything she's got. Her new album Sun continues to illuminate us as to her personal struggles and soulful approach to songwriting.

X-  Johnny Hit and Run Paulene

X's Los Angeles is one of the best and most accessible albums - I think my mom would even like it - to come out of LA's 80s punk scene. Prepare for FFF7, where they're performing the whole thing at the same time as Run DMC. Kind of like last year when they billed Public Enemy and Danzig at the same time, it's to prove where your loyalties lie. And mine are not with my Adidas.

Favourites 8/30

No Rankings, No Best New, Just what we're digging.

Animal Collective - Today's Supernatural

Where does a band go from a place like Merriweather? Animal Collective says back to their roots, incorporating the noisiness of their earliest work while retaining some of the straight-up pop approach of their '09 masterwork. Centipede Hz debuts September 4th, and probably to a solid Billboard charting.

Marcus Rubio - Turn Right

One of a bundle of new releases from our avant-pop Bro, Turn Right is a gorgeous example of Marcus' eclecticism. Deerhunter riffs, Basinski drones, autotune - while this cut from Hello Dallas runs over eleven minutes, there's not a moment of repetition or stagnancy. And Marcus, fuck you for leaving San Anto, I hope LA sucks.

Wild Nothing - Shadow

I'm glad the Smashing Pumpkins are cool again.



Sebadoh - Brand New Love

Now that Lou Barlow's back with Dinosaur Jr. for their new I Bet on Sky, we might as well celebrate the discontent that Mr. Barlow had for J. that gave birth to Sebadoh. Brand New Love is a song that hits every dopamine receptor I have, with chills imminent with each listen. It's beautiful and it's noisy and then it's gone.

JJ DOOM - Winter Blues

Eat her up like a SnackWell / We can live forever like Henrietta Lack cells.

Favourites 8/10

No rankings, No Best New, Just what we're digging.

Yeasayer - Henrietta 

Henrietta, the first single off the forthcoming Fragrant World (8/20), begins like most Yeasayer songs, with a mid-tempo beat, a nice synth track and some throwback vocals. But give it a few minutes and the band comes in with a luscious second act.

Holograms - Stress

Gotta love that Misfits bass teamed up with a synth.

Fergus & Geronimo - Roman Tick

Fergus & Geronimo's new album Funky Was the State of Affairs is sick - a Double Nickles on the Dime romp of a concept album about aliens and shit. Oh, and they'll be making a stop in San Anto too.

Eternal Summers - Girls in the City

Thanks to Eternal Summers for the perfect song for the moment when you lock eyes with some gorgeous person on the street or in the supermarket and know you'll never see them again.

Pavement - Summer Babe 

Duh.

Favourites 8/3

No rankings, no Best New, Just what we're digging.

Grizzly Bear - Yet Again

Good Lord does September have some amazing releases on its way. Animal Collective, Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, Cat Power, The XX, Grizzly Bear - it's gonna be a great month to go back to school. Yet Again, the second track released from the forthcoming Shields, finds the Brooklyn quartet in a slightly more psychedelic mood than we heard on Veckatimist, although the basics of their Jay-Z approved approach haven't changed: simple, spine-chilling melodies layered over beautiful guitar tones and traditional rock rhythms.

Bad Breaks - Chapter and Verse

The penultimate cut from Bad Break's new self-titled release, Chapter and Verse features a simple electric-keys riff that the San Anto outfit uses as a vehicle to shred. There's brutal, honest emotion latent in the lyrics (I don't want to hear the words you carefully rehearsed/ Still you give them to me chapter and verse) that the band reflects in their visceral approach towards the song's ending, when all lets loose into one of the heaviest highlights of the album.

Crystal Castles - Plague

 Alice Glass's vocals are mixed down even further than usual on Crystal Castles most recent, slightly less abrasive single. All I can make out is her mid-chorus declaration: I am the Plague.
 And correct me if I'm wrong, but the intro and fadeout sound eerily similar to the Alien trailer.


Ormonde - Cherry Blossom

Written and recorded in Marfa, Ormonde's new release Machine reflects the feel of one of the wildest, weirdest towns in West Texas. Sitting out on the porch, clothes soaked in sweat, listening to a tinny radio with a tall glass of water in hand - I've never been, but the slow-paced, lo-fi of Cherry Blossom is the closest thing I've got.


Serge Gainsbourg - Cargo Culte


On Machine, Ormonde slip in a cover of Lemon Incest, which is much easier to listen to than the original, knowing it's not sung by Serge and his daughter Charlotte, who was thirteen at the time. Despite the hall-of-fame creepin' displayed by the French master of pop, 1971's Cargo Culte has one of the sexiest basses ever laid down - almost like they threw a French accent on it. Good thing I have a middle school understanding of French, because Serge is still omitting some Humbert vibes on Histoire de Melody Nelson. And Ormonde's name is a nod to Lolita in itself. So there you go.






 

Favourites: 7/27

No rankings, No Best New, Just what we're digging.

 Oneohtrix Point Never - Sleep Dealer 

This June, producer Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never released Dog in the Fog, a remix EP of his 2011 masterpiece Replica. Like many remix efforts, Dog in the Fog doesn't add much of a new perspective, especially since the original (above) is damn near perfect.

Girls Names/Wierd Dreams Split 7"

 New Dream Pop from Slumberland Records. Sleep jokes anyone?

Dan Deacon - Lots

Behold, the latest from Baltimorist Dan Deacon, returning with his blasted-out beats, bursts of vocal samples and omnipresent xylophone in his first release since 08's Bromst. Not that he's been slacking though - Deacon wrote and recorded the soundtrack to Francis Ford Copolla's Twixt. That's right, he worked with Nic Cage's uncle. Deacon's new LP America is out on Domino August 28th.

Doom Ghost - Road Rat 

You want soul? Baby we got soul. That's some James Brown shit.

Flying Lotus - Between Friends (ft. Earl Sweatshirt and Captain Murphy)

 Some families just have it. The Coppola/Cage's, the Lotus/Coltrane's. Just imagine those family reunions. Between Friends, the most recent track from Adult Swim's Singles Program, finds Coltrane's great-nephew teaming up with Odd Future affiliate Earl Sweatshirt for a gorgeous blast of faded, laid-back attitude.