2009: fragments of genre-confounding greatness; a parallel overview

HEALTH - Die Slow

With all the best of the decade lists being flung about at the moment, 2009 is in danger of getting overlooked. You can kind of forgive a few people for wanting to get the ’00s out of the way with to start a fresh in the next decade – in terms of world events it’s been a particularly shocking ten years – but this is a music website (usually) and we must avert our gaze, stick our headphones on and enter the parallel universe that is popular music.

New York cast a long shadow over the independent music world in 2009, just as it had done way back in 2001 – the internet and, more surprisingly, large sections of the mainstream fell for albums by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective and (Jay-Z’s new favourite) Grizzly Bear. These bands made sonically unique albums that still retain a certain amount of insularity – these are carefully-crafted other worlds on record, and they were a little too careful and too crafted for some.

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Newcastle Academy

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

December 3rd 2009

When you’re an indie luddite like me, it becomes a bit of a rarity to attend a gig which involves you running the gauntlet of vultures touting ill-gotten tickets outside the venue. Tonight’s appearance by Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Newcastle Academy is such an occasion, where the presence of a parade of scum-sucking touts serves as a reminder of the scale we’re dealing with here. The band have grown out of their days as NME hype victims into a permanent fixture in the indie big league. And rightly so, given the consistently high standard of their three full-length records.

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The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – Newcastle Academy 2

TPOBPAH

December 2nd 2009

It’s been a hell of a year for New Yorkers The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart. They’ve triumphantly ridden a wave of blog-driven hype for the whole of 2009, picking up a legion of plaudits for their effortlessly wonderful debut album which has culminated in a top 10 place in our very own albums of the year poll. I had them far higher than 8th in my own personal list, but hey, such is democracy…

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Pavement reunion CONFIRMED!

Pavement

I’M EXCITED. I WOULD RE-PHRASE THE PRESS RELEASE THAT JUST CAME THROUGH MY INBOX BUT FUCK IT, I’M GOING TO COPY AND PASTE IT INSTEAD WHILE I GO AND WET MYSELF IN A MORE APPROPRIATE LOCATION:

“Domino is delighted to make it official that the line up of Mark Ibold, Scott “Spiral Stairs” Kannberg, Stephen Malkmus, Bob Nastanovich and Steve West is reuniting for dates around the world in 2010

Following years of speculation and extremely polite answers to obligatory reunion questions, Pavement, the most influential band of their generation, have announced details of their first show in over a decade.

The first show announced is a New York performance on September 21, 2010 at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park.  A pre-sale begins at 10:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 18, 2009 (tomorrow).  The password for the pre-sale is ZOWEE and the ticketing link is www.ticketmaster.com/event/00004330A3C355DD.  The general on-sale is slated for 10:00 AM EDT on Friday, September 25, 2009.  Please note that tickets will be available without surcharges from the Nokia Theatre box office in Times Square and from Earwax at 218 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.

Please visit www.crookedrain.com for details on this on-sale as well as all Pavement news as it develops.

Renowned for the thrilling ride of their live shows, Pavement’s unique sense of wit, style and pop chaos ensured the band’s iconoclastic run of LPs, from Slanted & Enchanted to Terror Twilight Is the most assured canon in all of indie-rock. And set the template for pretty much everything else that’s followed. … Continue Reading

Grizzly Bear/Beach House, Brooklyn Williamsburg Waterfront

Grizzly Bear

August 30th 2009

I’m stood in the longest queue ever. Under any other circumstance I’d moan, but it just so happens it’s a really beautiful day in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

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Vivian Girls – Everything Goes Wrong

Vivian Girls

This album is a lot like a pizza (bear with me here). As a whole, it’s a deliciously enticing prospect but the problem with pizza is that every slice is pretty much the same as the one before and after your sixth, you either get bored or start to feel sick from the carb and salt overload. A typical Vivian Girls serving is topped with generous helpings of echo and reverb, all played at a piping hot 100 miles per hour, great in small portions but sickly as a whole.

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Silk Flowers – Silk Flowers

Silk Flowers

Do Goths ever do karaoke? If not, then they have here the blueprint for going about it. At time of writing I’ve already switched this album off twice as it’s so bad. If only it was my ex-colleague Phil singing as I first thought – at least I could take something positive from it and congratulate him on getting a deal. But no, instead it’s three blokes from New York who actually manage to describe what they do as “trance” on MySpace. A trance would be welcome to manage to get through the whole of the ten efforts on offer.

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The Juan MacLean, Amsterdam

The Juan Maclean

May 10th 2009

Perhaps one is familiar with The Neverending Story (you know, that one about the boy and the flying mutt), well, I’ve got another one.

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A Place To Bury Strangers, KCLSU London

A Place To Bury Strangers

April 7, 2009

Everyone knows that A Place To Bury Strangers are the loudest band in New York. Who told them that? Were they tested by way of some sort of open audition? Is the statement/award temporally constrained or does it mean, like, ever? Well never mind that, this writer can’t work out whether she’s suffering from tinnitus or whether it’s the sound of her brain recoiling into itself.

A Place To Bury Strangers can be compared to Psychocandy-era JAMC and pretty much everything J. Mascis has spewed out not just in their choice of pedals and amps, but also in the way they grind through sound through Oliver Ackermann’s self-designed and built custom-effects pedals. … Continue Reading

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

The third record from New York’s Yeah Yeah Yeahs is one of 2009’s most anticipated releases. Early reviews say it’s a bit of an about turn, but what do our resident Musos think?

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