RIYL: Hammock, Death Cab for Cutie, Pink Floyd

It’s hard to believe this is the Album Leaf’s fifth album release, and that the group, led by mastermind Jimmy LaValle, is celebrating 10 years of existence. But here it is, A Chorus of Storytellers, the group’s new one, and it’s the same dreamy alt-pop LaValle and company has become known for – but even more polished, if that’s at all possible. Only four of the ten tracks on A Chorus of Storytellers have vocals, but it’s not like you expect an album from these guys to be full of vocal music anyway. In fact, some of their instrumental material is their best, the kind of music that takes you away to a far-off euphoric island and lets you forget about everything going on around you. Of course, it’s also incredibly pleasant music to work to or play in the background of a hipster party. The ten tracks on here flow nicely together, but some of the standouts are the melancholy instrumentals “Within Dreamsâ€� and “Stand Still,â€� and the dark yet strangely uplifting “Until the Last.â€� But LaValle really shines on the vocal number, “We Are,â€� which has a beautiful melody and subtly awesome harmonies against a stunning musical backdrop. Too many adjectives? Maybe, but The Album Leaf’s music continues to be adjective-inspiring. (Sub Pop 2010)

The Album Leaf MySpace Page

RIYL: early Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, Portishead

This is one branch in the music tree that we didn’t see coming: adult contemporary trip-hop. X: The Human Condition, the brainchild of Michael Nova, is a giant multimedia experience. There is a film, which tells the story of two people driven to change the world through art. The soundtrack of that film sounds like the kind of thing Trent Reznor might assemble if he were feeling vulnerable. The songs slink, bloop and bleep along like the soundtrack for an alt-spa (we’re not sure if alt-spas actually exist, but they should), and possess an ache that Massive Attack’s last album lacked. It doesn’t always work: “Mr. Happy” with its falsetto chorus is more corny than heartfelt, and anyone willing to name a song “The Creature from the Blackened Room” better prepare for some sniggers, even if the music for the track isn’t half bad. When the album’s on, though, it’s on; “The Human Flood” is just begging to be used in a movie trailer, and “Tag You’re It” explores funkier territory. Nova’s not the best singer in the world, and X: The Human Condition will not rewrite the music history books, but for anyone looking to come down from an already chill party, this will do the trick. (Hypnotical Entertainment 2010)

X: The Human Condition MySpace page
Click to buy X: The Human Condition from Amazon

RIYL: Chicane, Paul Oakenfold, machine gun edits

BT’s 2003 album Emotional Technology is still arguably the most overproduced album in music history, which is saying something given the huge advancements in overproduction in the last few years. Indeed, it appears that Mr. Transeau himself knows that he went too far on Emotional Technology, because his next album, 2006’s This Binary Universe, consisted largely of ambient orchestral music, with not a single vocal to be found. Now seven years removed from his last pop album, BT finally gets back on the horse and, BT being BT, he goes whole hog, though in a slightly different way. Where Emotional Technology contained bushels of those trademark stutter edits, These Hopeful Machines contains boatloads of music. Two albums’ worth, in fact, with nary a track under five minutes…and six songs over ten minutes. Uh oh.

Ah, we kid. These Hopeful Machines, despite its preposterous length – wisely, it’s being sold for the price of a single disc – is a triumphant return to form from a songwriting perspective. It may take 20 minutes to play them, but “Suddenly” and “The Emergency” are two of the best tunes BT’s written in ages, the latter of which sounds like a lost track from Chicane’s (awesome) Behind the Sun album. More importantly, BT has improved dramatically as a singer; the a cappella harmonies in “The Emergency” are stunning. He’s at the point where he doesn’t need guest singers to dress up his albums, though he brings a few in anyway, notably ex-Catherine Wheel singer Rob Dickinson. And we would be remiss if we didn’t mention “Rose of Jericho,” which blends Paul Oakenfold’s “Save the Last Trance for Me” with, of all things, Hot Butter’s instrumental “Popcorn.”

The album is still way, way too long – each song could stand to be at least a minute shorter – but closing Disc 2 with an ambient cover of the Psychedelic Furs’ “The Ghost in You” eases the listener fatigue a bit. The potential for a crossover hit is clearly here; if BT would submit to having an executive producer keep him focused, there would be little stopping him. (Nettwerk 2010)

BT MySpace page
Click to buy These Hopeful Machines from Amazon

Oy, this decade was a mess. The ’90s were easy. Rock had grunge, hip-hop had gangsta rap and a genre-defining electronic album seemed to come out every week thanks to artists like Aphex Twin, the Prodigy and the Orb (just to name a few). There was no Zeitgeist-turning moment in music this decade, no Next Big Thing. Instead, we saw mainstream rock dissolve into a post-grunge funk from which it might never recover, while pop music infiltrated rap music in insulting and embarrassing ways (thanks, Auto-Tune). Meanwhile, both the punk rock kids and hippies discovered electronic music, giving Pitchfork whole new genres of music to build up and tear down.

We’re more fragmented then ever – case in point: of all the albums selected by the writers who’ve contributed to our End of Decade series, only one album has been selected twice – which means that there’s something out there for anyone, but nothing for everyone. It sucks if you like the idea of a rock band being bigger than Jesus, especially if you don’t want that band to be U2. But if you like the idea that at any given moment there’s probably an album being released that will appeal to just you a few thousand other people, then this is a great time to be alive. However, that also means the chances of finding something truly “originalâ€� are next to nil. We’re getting to a point where it feels like everything has been done, and everyone is just paying homage, making pastiche or ripping off something that came before.

That being said, there were still a few original albums to make their way to my ears this decade, and almost all of them ended up being my favorites. So while you say this is my “best of� list for the decade, you could also call it my “most original� list as well.

1. Fucked Up: Chemistry of Common Life
Canadian indie rock seemed to be the scene of the ’00s, and while it gave us some good music, most of it bored me. It was just so damn pleasant. And Fucked Up is a lot of things, but pleasant isn’t one of them. In fact, almost everything about them, from their R-rated name to the abrasive vocals of their lead singer (who goes by the name Pink Eyes) almost dares you not to like them. I sure as hell didn’t at first; it seemed like they were trying too hard to be “outrageous.â€� But when they give you a song as brilliant as “Son the Fatherâ€� with its goosebump-inducing riff and the best lyric of the decade (“It’s hard enough being born in the first place / Who would ever wanna be born again?â€�), it’s impossible not to take notice. This is hardcore punk’s Dark Side of the Moon and will probably be just as influential in the years to come.

2. Arcade Fire: Funeral
Okay, so not all of the indie-rock from Canada bored me. I didn’t want to like Arcade Fire, I didn’t want to fall for their melancholy lyrics and haunting melodies, and I didn’t want to be put under enchantment by the haunting closing track “In The Backseat.â€� It just kind of happened that way. Damn Canadians and their near-perfect records.

3. Hell: Teufelswerk
An as-yet-unheard masterpiece, although there is some hope still since it only came out this year. Teufelswerk picks up where The Orb’s Adventures into the Underworld left off, taking the listener on a journey across two discs that include ambient, house, electro and just about everything else in between. Not made entirely for the dance floor, it’s the kind of electronic album that should have mainstream appeal, even with its 13-minute tracks and bizarre guest appearance roster of Bryan Ferry and Diddy. If you consider yourself a fan of electronic music and you don’t have this album, you’re doing it wrong.

4. At the Drive-In: Relationship of Command
It came out in 2000, and nearly 10 years later there’s still nothing that sounds remotely like it. It’s usually pegged as an emo record, (the first time I heard the word “emo” was in regards to this record) but modern emo has little in common with this masterpiece of tempo changes, passionate vocals and adrenaline-fueled insanity. Too bad the band couldn’t survive much past the album’s release, and the two offshoots they formed after the break-up, the Mars Volta and Sparta, have come close to even matching this record in the years that have followed. Of course, almost no one else has, either.

5. Marnie Stern: This Is It And I Am It…
“This chick is kinda nuts,â€� said my editor when he pitched this CD to me. I’m naturally attracted to insane women, so that’s partially why I took a shine to Stern so quickly, but it mostly had to do with the fact that I’ve heard nothing like her before. She’s some heavenly combination of Van Halen and Sleater-Kinney, taking guitar virtuosity and mixing it with riot grrl passion to create an entirely one-of-a-kind sound in the process. She’s her own beast, creating her own genre which should just be called “holy shit music,â€� because that’s all I can think to myself when I hear her.

6. Deltron 3030: Deltron 3030
Indie hip-hop may be easy to find now, but in 2000 there was no scene for that, at least there wasn’t in my consciousness. I still don’t remember how I found this record, which is a crazy concept album about an intergalactic rap battle in the year 3030, but I remember being pleasantly surprised when a year later everyone involved on it (Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, DJ Kid Koala, Dan the Automator and Damon Albarn) went on to form Gorillaz. But this album is still better than anything those animated monkeys put out. It isn’t only the best hip-hop album of the decade, but the most original as well.

7. Mastodon: Leviathan
Prog-rock and heavy metal, two great tastes that taste great together, especially when used to create a concept album based on “Moby Dick.” Mastodon’s early albums showed promise, but this seafaring epic really sealed the deal and heralded their arrival as “theâ€� metal band in 2004. It was also the first album to show me that popular metal was finally getting past that nu-metal BS that nearly ruined the genre at the turn of the millennium. There needs to be more metal based on classic American novels. I’m waiting for a metal interpretation of “The Age of Innocence.â€�

8. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: It’s Blitz!
The biggest 180 of the decade. Sounding nothing like their previous records, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs didn’t go dance-punk for their third LP, they went full-on dance – like a rocking version of Kylie Minogue. You’re not going to hear a better dance track this year than “Zero,â€� unless you count all the other up-tempo numbers on this flawless record.

9. Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Fever to Tell
Oh yeah, and their first album wasn’t half bad, either.

10. The Strokes: Is This It?
The poster band and the poster album for the for the poster genre (post-punk revival) that was supposed to become the Next Big Thing. And while that didn’t really happen, we still got some really good records out of it, this one still being the best. And even if you didn’t like it, you have to admit that it probably got a bunch of kids listening to the Stooges for the first time. And the UK version (see photo) had the best album cover of the decade as well.

RIYL: Radiohead, Jose Gonzalez, Sneaker Pimps

Zero 7 is a project more than a band – so while Zero 7 tours as a group and has actual band members, it’s still technically the brainchild of British producers Sam Hardaker and Henry Binns. And some of those “band membersâ€� are rotated out every album or so. Once you get a grasp on that, it doesn’t take much effort to like what Zero 7 is doing. And on their fourth album, Yeah Ghost, there is still the same electronica-driven pop, but with a few added dimensions this time around. In particular, singers Eska and Martha Tilston are new to the project, rounding out a lineup that includes a few regulars like Eddie Stevens, Tom Skinner and Robin Mullarkey. After a subtle opening instrumental, “Count Me Out,â€� there are some bouncy dance tracks, with Eska’s power-meets-soul vocal at the forefront of awesome tracks like “Medicine Manâ€� and “Mr. McGee.â€� “Pop Art Blueâ€� features Tilston’s folky timbre and there are some fine, if quirky, instrumentals, like the haunting “Solastalgia.â€� But the best track on here is “Swing,â€� an uber-catchy ditty that still has the Zero 7 “chillâ€� trademark – and a song that immediately has the feel of an iPod commercial. This may not be the best Zero 7 album yet, but it’s not a huge regression, either. (Atlantic 2009)

Zero 7 MySpace Page

RIYL: Fusion jazz, jambands, Bernie Worrell, Galactic

If you are sick of the state of the music business, if you need some new music that sounds truly new, if FM radio bores you to tears and even the blog-rock CDs showing up on every music site’s “best of” list lets you down because it all sounds like half-practiced, overproduced slacker junk played by snotty people you wouldn’t invite to parties at your place…please go and buy this box set. The culmination of the two-year Radiolarians project, The Evolutionary Set is the career pinnacle of MMW, jazz-rocking experimentalists who are neither jazz nor rock, but “avant-groove.” Kind of an thinking-fan’s instrumental Phish, this trio started with an idea in 2007: Write some proto-jams, briefly rehearse them, take them on tour, develop them live, and then record the finished project. It spawned three ridiculously tight, sometimes funky, sometimes rockin’, sometimes ambient-noodling numbers that sound like nothing you’ve heard. It doesn’t hurt that these guys not only have played together almost two decades, but that they’re exceptional players. The box set includes the three Radiolarians albums, a double-vinyl set, a DVD documentary, a remixes disc, and a live album. It’s intelligent jazz, it’s primitive rock. It’s funky stuff. It’s an updated 2009 version of the strangely beautiful Miles Davis period that included the records On The Corner and A Tribute to Jack Johnson. It’s everything indie music’s all about, and while the major labels and commercial radio won’t touch this stuff, you should. (Indirecto Records, 2009)

Medeski Martin and Wood MySpace page

RIYL: Isis, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Sun O)))

Pelican, by far the most notable instrumental post-metal art rock band named after a waterfowl, left indie-metal label Hydra Head Records last year and joined up with Southern Lord Records, home to such experimental icons as Sun O))) and Earth. So perhaps it’s not coincidental that their first release on the label, What We All Come to Need, is a slight return to more experimental ground. Their 2007 release City of Echoes got some flak for being too “mainstreamâ€� due to some slightly more traditional sonic arrangements that were far shorter and more restrained than the epic-length opuses that the band was known for in the past. On What We All Come to Need, the band has seemingly split the difference between the “popâ€� sound of their last album and the unabridged soundscapes that was their earlier work. While there are no droning 10-to 20-minute epics on What We All Come to Need, most of the tracks hover around the seven-minute mark, giving the listener enough time to get lost in the songs’ dark, melodic world without descending into tedium. That being said, perhaps they cut a bit too much of the fat away. The menacing “The Creeperâ€� and riff-heavy “Glimmerâ€� could benefit from being a little longer, and shorter cuts like “An Inch Above Sandâ€� and “Strung Up From The Skyâ€� never really get a chance to develop. However, tracks like “Ephemeralâ€� show that bigger isn’t always better by pounding its way through your cortex with its thunderous riffs in a scant five-minute running time.

Will the hardcore among the art-metal fans enjoy it? Probably not – it’s still a bit too “traditionalâ€� sounding for them. But metal heads who are curious to see what all this “post-metalâ€� talk is about would do good to start with What We All Come to Need, as it’s a perfect bridge between the hardcore droning sludge of groups like Isis and progressive metal such as Mastodon. (Southern Lord Records 2009)

Pelican MySpace Page

RIYL: Galaxy 500, The Innocence Mission, The Sundays

Call it music for insomniacs. Or anyone else that needs to catch up on their sleep. The second solo album by Hope Sandoval, late of ethereal ingénues Mazzy Star, not only maintains the same hazy drift and downcast drone of her former colleagues, but actually manages to take whatever minimal energy they mustered down another notch. Hushed and lethargic, Sandoval conveys a haunting, unhurried sound that’s immersed in spectral surroundings, contemplative musings and the occasional ominous overtones. Given their narcotic and nocturnal sensibilities, Sandoval and company seem hard-pressed to make a more emphatic impression, and even those songs that pass for sensual dreamscapes barely register beyond any cerebral set-ups.

Consequently, willowy offerings like “Blanchard,� “For the Rest of Your Life� and “Sets the Blaze� are more celestial than sublime, not exactly the type of thing that makes a lingering impression once the haze is lifted. So forget any notion of a sing-along. There’s not much of the Devil in these details. (Nettwerk 2009)

Hope Sandoval MySpace page

The eighth annual Austin City Limits Music Festival was apparently unlike any that preceded it, due to the dates being pushed back from September to early October. This meant that temperatures were not sweltering into triple digits. The lawn at Zilker Park had also received a fresh facelift of “golf course�-quality grass, to help cut down on dust complaints. This made for an idyllic first day of the festival, when the high temperature was just above 80 degrees. But persistent rain on the second day brought a new obstacle to deal with – mud, and lots of it. Much of the park was a mucky mess by the third day, even after the rain had stopped, although without the new grass the park probably would have been one giant mud pit. No one was really complaining about the rain though, since Texas has been suffering through its worst drought in 50 years. Neither rain nor mud nor fatigue would deter 70,000 music fans from getting their fill – this is, after all, the “live music capital of the world,� due to the fact that Austin hosts more music venues per capita than any other city.

The festival featured an incredibly diverse line-up, covering just about every genre under the sun. Those with the stamina and inclination could also check out after-show parties, featuring a number of festival bands playing late night shows at clubs around town. And in one of the greatest festival amenities of all time, ACL even had a football tent that made it possible, at certain times, to watch football and music at the same time! With eight stages (if you included the Austin Kiddie Limits stage), it was a weekend of tough choices – Ghostland Observatory vs. the Dave Matthews Band, Coheed and Cambria vs. Phoenix, Medeski Martin and Wood vs. the Avett Brothers, the Decemberists vs. Sound Tribe Sector 9, Ben Harper & Relentless7 vs. Dead Weather, etc. But having too many options is all part of the fun.

Friday, October 2
School of Seven Bells, Livestrong Stage
The combo of twins Ally and Claudia Deheza with former Secret Machines guitarist Benjamin Curtis makes for a trio that puts out a big sound despite taking the stage with just two guitars and a synthesizer. The Deheza sisters deliver dreamy harmonies that resonate in majestic fashion when mixed with a variety of synthesizers, mostly up-tempo beats and lots of echo and reverb. Their voices were occasionally in danger of getting obscured in the wet sound mix, but the overall effect was impressive in the way the sisters’ voices approximated an angelic choir.

Blitzen Trapper, Dell Stage
The Portland-based sextet has been building a strong buzz over the past couple years and this drew a big crowd to check out the band’s rootsy but still rocking sound. Some of the tunes were more acoustic-flavored, while others had an Americana blues rock flavor that recalled Ryan Adams & the Cardinals or Conor Oberst. The band’s melodic hooks and soulful vocals were a hit, with “Big Black Birdâ€� making a particular impression as electric guitar, harmonica and melodic vocals combined for one of the set’s catchiest tunes.

The Avett Brothers, AMD Stage
This was the second biggest stage and while the Avett Brothers’ unique brand of Americana, melodic pop and punk energy has made them a rising buzz band, their sound didn’t seem to translate so well to such a large venue. Playing to tens of thousands of people with just banjo, upright bass and acoustic guitar is definitely a challenge. I would have ventured closer to the North Carolina band to see if that made any difference, but I couldn’t help but feel pulled away to the Livestrong Stage.

RIYL: Gary Wright, Tangerine Dream, Phoenix

The French electronic duo’s first album since 2007’s Pocket Symphony – and the first to be recorded in the band’s brand-new recording studio – Love 2 is a back-to-basics effort of sorts, dusting off several of the keyboards they used on their genre-busting 1998 album Moon Safari. But don’t think of Love 2 as a Moon Safari sequel; it shares a little bit of that album’s spacey loungey cool (hey, it’s Air, how can it not), but the goings here are much lighter and peppier. “Love” is the bounciest song the band’s done in years, and “Be a Bee” is a far better foray into rock than pretty much everything on 10,000 Hz Legend.

Granted, it’s a bit slighter than their best work (we’ll pause while you crack your best ’slighter than air’ joke), but as long as they give us something like “Heaven’s Light” every couple of years, you will get no complaints from us. (Astralwerks 2009)

Air MySpace page
Click to buy Love 2 from Amazon