Our Mid-Season Favorite Album Countdown - Nr. 02

Number two in our top ten favourite albums of 2010 so far! Linda, Ilse, and yours truly give you our ten favourite albums at the halfway stage of the musical year in the hope you might discover, rediscover, or agree with our picks. If, in turn, you have some stuff you think we might enjoy, please holler.

Favorite albums of first half 2010: 10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5- 4 - 3

Linda:
02. Infinite Body – Carve Out the Face of My God (Post Present Medium)
I absolutely love this album! I almost feel bad about my number one being a better album than Infinite Body’s as this is just so amazing, and it seems to go so unnoticed – luckily for my number one he made a near perfect album to ensure the first place on my list (and is that enough to get your attention so you come back for tomorrow’s number one? I promise it will be REALLY good!). Infinite Body is the solo endeavour of California’s Kyle Parker who used to make a lot of noise as Gator Surprise, but decided to start making this beautiful music instead, and what an awfully good choice that was. He apparently still has a full time job working in a movie theatre (he’s the guy getting you the popcorn) and barely has enough equipment to perform live. All the more reason to be amazed by what he manages to create on this LP. Oh, just wake me up with the sounds of ‘A Fool Persists’ and know that nothing could ruin my day – had I only considered this on 11 July. His music seems to relate to what Fuck Buttons do, but less harsh, though still noisy, a bit like Fennesz. It would deem it very appropriate for a Stanley Kubrick film. Or just any other occasion as you should just give it listen. Or two. Or listen to it infinitely as I now tend to do.
Random track to listen to: ‘Drive Dreams Away’

Ilse:
02. Pulled Apart By Horses – S/T (Transgressive)
Pulled Apart By Horses from Leeds caught my ear somewhere early last year and I’ve seen them live about 7 times since then, making them (in my book) truly one of the greatest live bands at the moment. This eponymous debut album is filled with fistpumping-anthems involving woohooo’s, yahooo’s, fuck yeah’s, high fives, filthy guitar riffs and a lot of screaming, creating something that could be the soundtrack to the medieval execution style their bandname refers to. When I think of this band, I also think of them as a horrorfilm; it’s bloody, hard and scary, henceforth entertaining (and believe me, entertaining they are), yet the plot is so inconceivable it’s funny again: if you look at the songtitles – such as ‘I Punched A Lion In the Throat’ and ‘I Have The Guestlist To Rory O’Hara’s Suicide’ (Roran O Hara of the band Grammatics that is) – and see their onstage banter, you can’t take them completely serious. It’s no surprise they exactly look like what they sound like: sweaty, bare-chested men covered in tattoos and facial hair, wearing ripped skinny jeans. Anyway, trying to explain what Pulled Apart By Horses are like, is the same as trying to explain an episode of some farcical comedy show: you have to have seen (or heard) it to get the picture.
Random track to listen to: ‘I Punched a Lion in the Throat’

Stef:
02. The ArchAndroid – Janelle Monae (Wondaland Recordings)
You could say this is the second soundtrack for the movie Metropolis, the first one being the maligned Gorgio Moroder one. Mr. Greendown and Cindy Mayweather are in love, but they can’t be in love because one is a human and the other an android, and upon this love’s discovery Cindy is sentenced to immediate disassembly. Uh-huh. Definitely got that sci-fi dystopia thing going on. The Metropolis film by the way deals with someone from a more intellectual background living “upstairs” falling in love with a teacher from a working background living underground. So you can see the parallels there, with the overall theme naturally being acceptation and equality and being able to be your own person. Nothing new there, but what is new is the fresh take on paying homage to cultural highlights of the past century. Not only Metropolis, but also musically she references directly or indirectly to James Brown, Prince, Stevie Wonder, and David Bowie. And old school Jazz in various subgenres, and so forth. So there’s a whole lotta stuff going on. And who says the concept album is dead? With Byrne, with Pallett, and with Monae all delivering very good albums in that format. And interesting ones too, both in terms of music and narrative. From beautiful ballads to some serious funking, Monae has pieced together an album which showcases her extraordinary versatility. Easy on the ear, some ace singles, but also with enough (cultural) depth to engage people who want more than just catchy music. Although the latter quality will unite the casual listener with the music aficionado, hopefully.
Random track to listen to: ‘Wondaland’