Kiss Each Other Clean – Iron & Wine

3.0/5.0

Sam Beam developed an album that has a sense of uncontrollable ADD, for better and for worse.

Sam Beam's new album opens with something so intricate and definitive-- “Walking Far From Home” is a track that will end up as one of my favorites for 2011. It's as if Beam hung out with long-track professional Sufjan Stevens just enough to make musical inconsistencies happen, then took up Justin Vernon's recent knack for making auto-tune somewhat legitimate. There also seems to be a touch of masterful vocal-blending that's comparable to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's “Carry On.”

However, the magnificence of the album's first song may end up hurting the listener's feelings. “Me and Lazarus” comes out of nowhere, giving off an awkward vibe with instrumentation that just feels weird. Weird for that standard style of Beam. He gets rid of that comfortable folky-ness and creates sort of a sonic mess.

Once the third track plays you can hear that traditional acoustic-guitar strum- and all of a sudden you hear Michael Angelakos of Passion Pit? No...then some smooth jazz thing? Uh...

The rest of the album sorta plays out like that. I suppose I ought to give him credit for expanding his palette, but in reality it's really uncomfortable.

Typical Sam can be picked up slightly in “Godless Brother In Love,” a mellow, acoustic-and-piano track that attempts to resonate like Our Endless Numbered Days. The follow-up is painful for me to listen to-- “Big Burned Hand” is a what, some sort of funk-jam session? It was like the large amounts of filler-music I saw performed at a Parliament-Funkadelic concert I attended sometime ago, without the mesmerizing charm of George Clinton's rainbow hair.

The album's extraordinary first song builds up listeners for relative disappointment, for all-in-all, it seems that Iron & Wine has created a more inconsistent sound that just got overly-excited every time a new instrument or guitar sound was introduced. These inconsistencies are the basis for a series of songs that lack the memorability and deep sensitivity of Sam's previous work.

The King is Dead - The Decemberists

4.0/5.0

If you were to take a look at the back of the case of this album, you would see a faux-old-timey photo of the Decemberists. They look the type of band your dad may have played in; a grassroots, folky group that performs at all the family reunions. I couldn't help but find it amusing in that same familiar sense.

It's that familiar feel that is perpetuated throughout this album. You won't find any big orchestrations, or songs that sound like they have been layered with hundreds of tracks. This album was almost solely created with organic instrumentation, which is surprising considering their past records. Listen to The Crane Wife or The Hazards of Love and you've got two albums with strong storylines and scores from the rambling yet eloquently spoken Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy.

That isn't to say it's a bad thing-- it's hardly that. The album clearly marks a divergence from the standard storyboard albums. These are the songs written while just chilling in your house, and they're type of songs you would perform sitting on the front porch. The "Hymn" tracks ("January Hymn"/"June Hymn") are representative of this. Even though they are so incredibly basic in form, they still observe relaxing guitar melody intertwined with harmonica voices.

Even though this is a new style for the Decemberists, it still maintains Colin Meloy's songwriting sensibilities. My favorite track at the moment is "This Is Why We Fight," a ballad that makes plans to make you as solemn as the song itself-- a classic characteristic of songs by Colin. The last track on the album, "Dear Avery," doesn't have the power of "Sons & Daughters" but also serves as an all-encompassing track-- a throwback to classic Decemberists.

R.E.M.'s guitarist Peter Buck also helps in pushing this polished boulder of an album along, particularly with one of the album's most upbeat jams, "Calamity Song."

I would describe this album as a step forward for the Decemberists. Sure, the tracks appear to be attesting to the white person's sonic stereotype that is folk music. But the Decemberists can be marked down as one of the artists to have done it well and right with The King is Dead.

2010: Top 10 Tracks

So 2010 has been over for over a week now. I believe the lateness of this post though reflects concentration and devotion to the music of 2010, and making sure the best songs were selected. Or I may have just been busy. Here's Warchild's Top 10 Tracks of 2010.

10. “On Melancholy Hill” - Gorillaz

What is this? What's this synth-happy freak doing? Sure, as soon as that first chord chimes the next one can be simply predicted by the ear but when those pure, melodic notes eloquently present themselves all sense of cliché is completely lost. Gorillaz made a beautiful, heartfelt tune here that should make its way onto the mixtapes of hip teens everywhere.

(Image taken from http://www.live4ever.uk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/gorillaz.jpg)

9. “Dance Yrself Clean” - LCD Soundsystem

Initial thought process on this song: “Alright, stop, James Murphy. This song was done a minute through...oh shit, what was that?”

This song probably won't win you over until about a third of the way in, since James Murphy drones at first. However, moments later, those fantastic, dance-y sensibilities of Murphy's work come through and you can't help but release a sigh of relief. Relief because this song represents Murphy's reconnection to the spirit of the tunes he wrote on LCD Soundsystem's first album, and to the spirit of everything that grooves.

(Image taken from http://stereogum.com/img/lcd_soundsystem-big_ideas.jpg)

8. “Rococo” - Arcade Fire

Simple question-- what's your favorite song off of your favorite album of the year? Well, uh...

I answered this question with the jam that pierced. Win Butler makes you sting with the way he eerily chants “Rococo” while you slowly but surely nod your head in agreement to the melody. The song gives its listeners a sense of fear that just becomes stronger, as each verse and chorus push the next section that follows. In this respect, Arcade Fire succeeded in making a song so incredibly disorienting that you're an unfinished puzzle when it's playing and you are not content again until the next song plays. And that's exactly why I love it.

(Image taken from http://www.clashmusic.com/files/imagecache/big_node_view/files/arcadefire_24.jpg)

7. “Norway” - Beach House

Dream-pop, or dream-anything for that matter, is always fun. Beach House's “Norway” exemplifies all that I love about the genre. There's vocal melodies bouncing everywhere, the kind that come from your speakers or headphones, into your ears, then into the atrium of your brain where they continue to bounce around. “Norway” is definitely one of the most resonating songs of the year, with the way it will keep the listener's eyes closed and mind open, after having been reached out to by Victoria Legrand's "sweep-you-off-your-reality" vocals.

(Image taken from http://www.minorlabeldebut.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/beach-house-pic.jpg)

6. “Helicopter” - Deerhunter

This song puts a smile on my face, but upon further listen, I realize this song capitalizes on our imminent doom. Bradford Cox asks listeners to “pray” as Deerhunter describes falling away and the feeling one gets when he or she has exhausted their presence. We have all been spun around, felt tired and needy, attempting to just get through each day with little conflict; “Helicopter” describes this emotion with extreme intimacy. 

(Image taken from http://www.kranky.net/images/photos/deerhunter.jpg)

5. “Born Free” - M.I.A.

This track off of M.I.A.'s new release Maya is a spectacle to me. It doesn't only showcase Maya's, or M.I.A.'s, superior knack for sampling and production but also is the epitome of M.I.A. as a musician. There's the clear political message. There's the abrasive, catchy, stereo-pounding instrumentation. Put it together, and you've got an M.I.A. track. “Born Free” is both of those things, combined with almost a punk energy and a head-banging sensibility. (Watch the video here.)

(Image taken from http://cdn.complex.com/assets/images/Individuals/Complex%20Women/082007/mia420.jpg)

4. “Infinity Guitars” - Sleigh Bells

Sleigh Bells makes me rage in the way Rage Against the Machine did back when I was fourteen (though I still love me some RATM.) Listening to this track by Sleigh Bells is comparable to sticking your head in a microwave, after popping an entire bottle of caffeine pills. Especially the last thirty or so seconds. “Infinity Guitars” is my ultimate party song for the year, refueling the energy meter in any person that gives it a listen. (Watch the video here.)

(Image taken from http://cdn.stereogum.com/files/2009/10/sleigh_bells-santos-stereogum_22-608x405.jpg)

3. “Bloodbuzz Ohio” - The National

When the National came to Columbus, Ohio in August, Matt Berninger announced that this song was for Andyman, a local radio DJ that had recently passed away. It was touching to say the least, as associating things with the death of an individual is often a simple way of making something more serious than it actually may be, however I find that this song is a best friend for people undergoing the more brutal aspects of life. The reference to Andyman also greatly backed up the performance of this song. The combination of the National's voices, from Berninger to the Dessner brothers, make this song everything but cheery...yet, it creates resolution. (Watch the video here.)

(Image taken from http://www.students.stedwards.edu/mgarciap/the_national.jpg)

2. “A More Perfect Union” - Titus Andronicus

This song is the opening to a battle. It is the drum-line that introduces war one may fantasize about during the battles that occurred in the past. It is that inspirational speech that Mel Gibson gives in Braveheart-- the cynical version that he would give for the malcontent. After all, in reference to fellow Jersey-local Springsteen, Patrick Stickles shouts “Tramps like us/Baby, we were born to die.” It's in this nature that Titus Andronicus probably would make soldiers weep.

The war-march-like music that comes in the last half of the song is just too sonically irresistible, as well as the solo guitar that interlocks with the percussion. Altogether, it sounds like what I think it's supposed to represent: a bunch of young men getting themselves into something with no idea what will happen. They are naïve, but they're determined and ready for whatever they will undergo. (Watch the single-version video here.)

(Image taken from https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLiJedIBThHp9Ukw13UkrRRHKApOknQRlKC7c_g3qh2W7vrb004PO7Ckw8Mlce4ty9YIoW2fqkXOewtYd8BgRDeT-XDuplOCjYY7JSZ5yDifNCdb05LuJQjfXfToDLSQffknTZPulfUmU/s1600/Titus-Andronicus--001.jpg)

1. “Runaway” - Kanye West Feat. Pusha-T

As if Kanye's new stuff couldn't be thrown in your face enough, right? But the hype the album and it's single “Runaway” received and continues to receive is well deserved. This song is really quite simple, which is probably the beauty of it; the number of notes on that piano part can be counted on one hand. The beat doesn't even really have that much syncopation. The simplicity of the music mixes with Kanye's words perfectly-- words that were constructed to be a rude awakening for listeners with any sense of regret. But, perhaps most importantly, words that will continue to be alluded to and sung for quite sometime. (Watch the single-version video here.)

(Image taken from http://theurbandaily.com/files/2010/10/Kanye-West-Runaway-Tuxedo.jpg)