Before beginning this post, I would like to direct your attention to this week’s Swan Fungus User Poll. The amazing folks at Temporary Residence Ltd. have once again gone above and beyond in donating some giveaways to this website that can be passed along to the public. This week’s poll asks “What is your favorite Mono record.” I know your options don’t include sit like the Quip magazine promo CD, the Gone collection (it was a compilation!), or the 2008 DVD The Sky Remains The Same As Ever, but almost every other release is accounted for. The rules are simple: Register as a Swan Fungus user (that way I can have your contact information) and vote. It’s pretty easy, right? Good. One user at random will have his or her entry chosen (at random) to receive a beautiful new vinyl edition of Holy Ground: NYC Live With The Wordless Music Orchestra on colored wax (not sure if it’s red or blue wax, but either way it’s limited to 500 copies!). A second user will receive Holy Ground as a CD+DVD set. Pretty cool, right? Thanks, TRL!
And now…
2010 is half over. Truly, this is a scary thought. Slowly (but not too slowly) I’m beginning to understand what grownups used to mean when they used to say shit like, “Enjoy [youth] while it lasts!” Still, I guess if there’s a benefit to aging rapidly — like a reverse Benjamin Button — it’s that cool music comes along seemingly more often. If it’s already the middle of June and I have 47 albums listed on my preliminary “Best of 2010” list, I shouldn’t have that much of a problem making it to 100 by the last week of December. As it stands right now, this is my current “Top 10” of the year.
The The Top Ten Albums Of 2010 (January – June Edition)
10. Voice Of The Seven Thunders – Voice Of The Seven Thunders (Tchantinler) – Thank you to Ian right off the bat for introducing me to Rick Tomlinson, mastermind behind VOTST as well as the similarly-named Voice Of The Seven Woods. This is some far-out psychedelic music, not light enough to be folk but not burley enough to place Tomlinson in the Hawkwind-revival club. Eastern-tinged acoustic guitars vie for attention with searing solos and distorted bass riffs. One minute it will be overblown, lo-fi Arabian space rock, and the next it will be beautifully arranged, sun dappled acoustic movements in the vein of James Blackshaw or the late Jack Rose. It doesn’t matter what moniker Tomlinson decides to use to distinguish his recording projects, the man is super-talented. [Listen to “Kommune”]
09. The Alps – Le Voyage (Type) – Once Jefre Cantu’s name is attached to something, either because he’s releasing it on his Root Strata label or creating music, I want it. You could say that is one of my steadfast rules for acquiring music — especially new music. I don’t collect cassettes or even have a way to listen to them, but I have to force myself not to buy all the Root Strata tapes he’s already put out this year. As for The Alps, call it krautrock-psych-folk if you want, I just call it awesome. Take “Crossing The Sand” for example. Fuzzy wah guitar explorations clash with tom-heavy propulsive tribal drumming and jangly 12-string guitars. If you could call something motorik microtonal folk…well, it’d be this (TMI note: all the running water gives me the urge to piss). [Listen to “Crossing The Sands”]
08. Magic Lantern – Platoon (Not Not Fun) – Another ancient Ian suggestion, Magic Lantern were right under my nose for almost a full year of living in LA until Ian steered me toward High Beams. Two years later, I’m damned sure I don’t miss a new release. Is this an unintentionally shambolic mess caught on tape? Ah, to the uninitiated ear it might appear so, but rest assured this madness is methodically structured. Or…at least I hope it is…otherwise I’m going to feel like a jackass. Equal parts High Rise and Ash Ra Tempel. Well…what are you waiting for?
07. Ufomammut – Eve (Supernatural Cat) – EVE is not an album, it is a voyage. Ufomammut are the space pilots, and you have been strapped in for an interstellar flight. If those lofty, unearthly metaphors aren’t enough to sell my point, I guess you could just say that Ufomammut are like the Pink Floyd of stoner rock/metal. In fact, the concept of EVE was inspired by Pink Floyd’s Meddle. “The idea was to work on a long song and some satellites†the band state. “Then we started in playing this song that was growing and developing bigger and bigger. And it was like we were reaching something new; a different knowledge. So I got the feeling we had to move it around something that was about freedom; the idea of rebellion, of fighting to reach something important, and peculiar.â€
06. White Hills – White Hills (Thrill Jockey) – After years of hyping White Hills, if you really need me to describe this band to you I’m not sure you belong on my website. Simply put, White Hills are the best band currently recording music. At least that’s my opinion. I don’t know, maybe you’re a stupid Animal Collective fan. If so, leave now. The self-titled WH album released by Thrill Jockey earlier this year contains one of the bands most-epic, drugged-up, hypnotic james yet: “Dead.” It’s not ranked in the top ten, but the White Hills / Gnod Double-LP monster Gnod Drop Out With White Hills II is stunning. I know Dave W. has visited this website before, so if you’re reading this: Come back to LA please? I’ll help you set something up. E-mail me. [Listen to “Dead”]
05. Harvey Milk – A Small Turn Of Human Kindness (Hydra Head) – Yeah right, like a new Harvey Milk album is going to come out and it’s not automatically going to have a slot waiting for it in my top ten? I was playing this album over the stereo system at work a few weeks ago and a woman approached one of my co-workers and asked, “Is this woman singing on her period? She sounds like she’s in agony.” A lot of people wonder how the fuck you describe the sound of Harvey Milk, but from now on that’s exactly how I’m going to do it. How great are those super-fucked-up guitar and vocal harmonies on “I Know This Is No Place For You.” And then there’s the — dare I say it — beautiful “I Know This Is All My Fault.” Damn you Harvey Milk. Why are you one of the greatest bands ever? [Listen to “I Know This Is No Place For You”]
04. The Body – All The Waters Of The Earth Turn To Blood (Aum War) – Speaking of combining beautiful and fucked up, holy shit does this album master that art. How the hell do two people sound so fucking HUGE!? What a creepy and fascinating and wonderful combination: a full choir and the most ultra-heavy doom metal I’ve heard in ages. I’ve heard a lot of music in my 27 years. I feel confident saying I’ve never heard anything like this before. And I really, really like it. [Listen to “Even The Saints Knew Their Hour Of Failure And Loss”]
03. Master Musicians Of Bukkake – Totem Two (Important) – I will not deny that my initial interest in this band had everything to do with the name and nothing to do with the stellar reviews Totem One and The Visible Sign Of Invisible Order received. As for right now? It’s all about the music. This is Sun O))) meets Huun-Huur-Tu meets the most lysergic, fucked-up Morricone score you could imagine. This is weird Temple of Doom witch-cult shit. It’s gamelan from space. I don’t know what the fuck to call it but I love it and I want quite terribly to experience it in person. Are you kidding me? I need this in my life NOW. [Listen to “The Heresy Of Origen”]
02. Emeralds – Does It Look Like I’m Here? (Editions Mego) – In 2009 Emeralds accounted for three albums on my Top 100 list, and they were all ranked 27 or higher. What Happened was awarded the best album of the year honors. In 2010, the band has already released another stunning work along with two 7″ records that make me wonder when (or if) the trio will ever record something I don’t like. Even their solo projects are ridiculous. I just ordered my copy of Mark McGuire’s (no, not that Mark McGuire you retard!) Tidings/Amythyst Waves double-LP, and John Elliott’s project Mist should have made last year’s list as well. Does It Look Like I’m Here? is four sides of unbelievable electronic music. The modern Kosmiche Kuriere. [Listen to “Double Helix”]
01. Mugstar – Sun Broken (Important) – It’s your move, White Hills and US Christmas. Take your shot at dethroning this superior space/psych record from its current perch atop the best albums of 2010. This English band put out a self-titled record a few years ago that I heard but didn’t love, and now …Sun, Broken… definitely has my attention. The insane swirling guitars and fierce rhythms are unrelenting. To put it bluntly, this shit kicks ass. Huge riffs, unintelligble “druggy” vocals, pounding drums, what more could you ask for from a space rock record? Nothing. I wouldn’t say it’s the perfect record, but it’s really damned good. [Listen to “Ouroboros”]
