Goodbye, Madiba — The world lost one of its most influential and inspirational human beings yesterday. Nelson Mandela was 95 years old, and the impact he made on this world in those 95 years is astonishing. Many tributes and articles are already pouring in and many more are sure to come. I suggest you read as much as you can, no matter how much or little you already know about his life and work. Everyone can learn a lot from the man, and we must not forget the things he has taught us. Calling him a great man would be an enormous understatement, as would simply saying he will be missed. Rest in peace, Madiba.
Refreshed but recovering — The rest of today’s column seems a bit trivial considering the circumstances, but it wouldn’t really be a column if I didn’t continue.
After a week off, it’s nice to be back. Last week, I stuffed my face full of food, and not just on Thanksgiving. It was more of a five day-long feast. I’m still recovering.
Haim — Over the course of the last two weeks, I’ve been listening to a fair amount of Haim. I don’t think I’ve ever been more conflicted in my feelings about a band, and I’m trying to sort through my thoughts. At the beginning of November, I wrote this about Haim:
“Am I the only person on Earth to ever listen to Haim and not immediately fall in love with them? What am I missing? They’re okay, but the hype seems a bit overblown. Now they’ve landed a slot on SNL so more people can fall in love them and leave me confused.”
I’m still not in love with them, but I’m starting to understand why everyone else seems to be. I’ve been burned by falling for a new band too quickly (see: Mumford and Sons), so maybe my resistance is more about me than it is about Haim. It’s impossible to deny that they’re catchy. And a bit edgy and fresh. But there’s still something about them that I can’t get past. I think it’s the hype machine’s fault. I rarely find unconditional love like the kind Haim has received to be warranted. They’ve got one album…let’s all chill, right?
Anyway, the hype machine continues as Haim were just named “Rookie of the Year” by Consequence of Sound. If the consideration is greatest rookie success, than Haim is the clear choice. They have dominated this year. But if it’s more about one rookie album versus another, CHVRCHES’ The Bones of What You Said is my pick for ROY (and they’ve had their fair share of rookie success, too). There’s much more depth in CHVRCHES’ music, it’s just as catchy as Haim’s, and Lauren Mayberry’s voice is better than any of the Haim sisters.
Best-of creep — Black Friday is now Black Thanksgiving. Christmas season now starts on November 1st. And best-of-year lists now arrive in the first week of December. I fear that the age of technology has made us all just a tad impatient.
We’ll be posting our best-of-2013 lists the week before Christmas, which I think is reasonable. But Rolling Stone, SPIN, NME, Paste, Q Magazine, and others have already named their top albums of the year. If Childish Gambino’s Because the Internet were better, he’d be getting hosed (it’s not out until next week). What is comforting to see is the respect Kanye’s Yeezus is getting, with #1 spots from SPIN and A.V. Club, and #2 spots from NME. I don’t want to spoil my own list…but I don’t think it’ll surprise any dedicated reader when I say Yeezus is my #1 record of the year, too…and it’s not even close. More on that later this month.
Best-of mania continues — Though it can be fun to see all the best-albums lists from other publications, nothing beats knowing what some of your favorite artists love. Drowned in Sound compiled a lengthy list of other artists’ five favorite albums of the year. Members of the following bands listed their favorite albums of 2013:
Wild Beasts, I Break Horses, Foals, Frightened Rabbit, Villagers, Editors, These New Puritans, Friendly Fires, Blood Red Shoes, Drenge, Los Campesinos, Olafur Arnalds, Polly Scattergood, Perfume Genius, Marissa Nadler, Local Natives, Chvrches, Sky Larkin, Midlake.
That’s a lot of bands. The most exciting for me were the lists from Local Natives, Frightened Rabbit and CHVRCHES, as they are three of my favorite artists right now. Local Natives’ Kelsey Ayer not only loves Yeezus, but hits the nail on the head when explaining why:
“This album is so inspirational to me because he’s six albums in and he still sounds as fresh and as current as the most cutting edge dudes making music today. Say whatever you want about his interviews, dude’s a fucking genius.”
More excitingly, Ayer let us know that Local Natives are “opening for a huge band on their US arena tour in the Spring.” He couldn’t say who, but calls them “royalty.” Perhaps Arcade Fire’s Refelktor making his list is no coincidence…
As for 2014 plans, Frightened Rabbit’s Scott Hutchison also spilled some exciting news. He’s trying to record a solo album in February! And the full band will be back at work on a new album in the spring! Huzzah!
Movin’ In (Billy’s Residency) — Billy Joel’s plans for 2014 are pretty clear. You can find him at Madison Square Garden. MSG and Joel have announced that the piano man will play at the “World’s Most Famous Arena” once a month “as long as there’s demand.” The residency starts in January and makes Billy Joel MSG’s “music franchise,” with his own logo unveiled right next to the ones for the Knicks, Rangers and Liberty. Extended residencies are not uncommon…in Las Vegas, but this is certainly unprecedented. I’m not sure how long the demand will keep up for Joel to continue the residency, but no town loves Billy Joel more than New York.
Jay ranks Jay — I’ve never been much of a fan of Jay Z as a celebrity persona, but he’s done a few things lately that I can’t help but respect. He and Beyonce are trying to be vegans for 22 days, which doesn’t seem like a huge challenge…but I’m sure it won’t be very easy, either. I’m not sure if this actually matters, but it’s better than eating meat for 22 straight days, though that would be a much more delicious challenge.
Better yet, Jay has ranked his discography…pretty correctly, might I add. I think Magna Carta Holy Grail is a little too high (both Vol. 1 and BP3 I’d move up above it), but for the most part, Jay is on point. In the history of modern music, has any artist, let alone such a major one, publicly ranked their own work? Can this please become a more common thing?
Oh, Noel — Speaking of artists I’ve never much cared for, Noel Gallagher just gave a pretty fun interview to Rolling Stone. The majority of it focuses on the past year of music and Gallagher’s thoughts on various albums—Yeezus, Reflektor, Bowie’s The Next Day, and others. I’m glad (I guess) to hear he likes Yeezus, but dismayed by what he had to say about Arcade Fire’s Reflektor…
“I haven’t heard it. Anybody that comes back with a double album, to me, needs to pry themselves out of their own asshole. This is not the Seventies, okay? Go and ask Billy Corgan about a double album. Who has the fucking time, in 2013, to sit through 45 minutes of a single album? How arrogant are these people to think that you’ve got an hour and a half to listen to a fucking record?”
My problem isn’t so much his opinion on a band making a double album, but rather his commenting on an album he’s never heard before. No one, especially not a musician, should automatically write off an album just because it’s too long. Yes, Reflektor is longer than it could, and perhaps should, be. But you can’t figure that out until you hear it. It’s a brilliant album despite its faults. Perhaps Noel is the one who needs to be prying his head out of his ass.”
This quote, though, was hilarious:
Rolling Stone: “You know Bowie sings backup on one of Arcade Fire’s new songs, right?”
Noel Gallagher: “Oh, that’s a shame.”
Speaking of… Bowie’s guest appearance on Reflektor…why the hell is it only two lines long? If you’ve got David Bowie willing to contribute to your music, try to get a little more out of him.
Here Comes Costanza — Last week, I mentioned Arcade Fire’s string of creative videos, but even they couldn’t come up with something as awesome as this. Twitter parody account Seinfeld2000 set clips of TV’s greatest comedy, Seinfeld, to Arcade Fire’s “Here Comes the Night Time.” Somehow, the video, which focuses on George Costanza’s relationship with Susan, works surprisingly well. Happy Festivus!