The Year in Music

FAVORITE MUSIC OF 2005
An Annual Report By Dave Ratzlow

Another great year in music. Not as many fantastic albums this year, but I did attend some of the most thrilling and inspiring concerts in my life. As much as NYC can suck sometimes, the vitality of the music scene (among other things) will keep me here for a long time.


TOP TEN FAVORITE ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

10. YOUNG PEOPLE – Five Sunsets In Four Days (E.P.)

09. THE WHITE STRIPES – Get Behind Me Satan

08. BECK – Guero

07. CELEBRATION – Celebration
(A young and energetic band with a lot of power and ideas, they invoke The Clash, Siouxsie and Blonde Redhead, and come out of the gate with the BEST DEBUT of the year.)

06. STEPHEN MALKMUS – Face The Truth

05. THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS – Twin Cinema

04. CAMILLE – Le Fil
(My French is horrible these days, but I'd follow this quirky young woman anywhere. Tight harmonies, human beat-box and vocalized trumpet, the album is fun without compromising its emotional impact. Good songs and good performances need no translation.)

03. ROISIN MURPHY – Ruby Blue
(You can probably tell, I like my female singers beautiful and quirky. Roisin, formerly of Moloko, adds funky to the mix. She takes a lot of musical risks here, creating some of the most interesting pop/soul I've heard in years.)

02. BETTYE LAVETTE – I've Got My Own Hell To Raise
(One of many albums I've bought just because I liked the cover. An R&B singer from the 60s making a blues-inspired comeback, LaVette captivated me within the first few seconds of hearing her soulful voice, and I knew the album would become one of my favorites of the year.)

01. FIONA APPLE – Extraordinary Machine
(I prefer the strange Kurt Weill-inspired bootleg version produced by John Brion which was floating around last year. This one is a bit more "normal", but it still packs an emotional punch. Apple is a great singer and a clever yet honest songwriter.)


HONORABLE MENTIONS

THE RATZLOW – Silly Love Songs
(Such a good year in music, even my own album didn't make the top ten. Some of these songs are my favorites of all time and it was a joy working on it and sharing it with everyone. The next one will be better, I promise!)

DYNAMITE HAM – I Believe In You
(My high school buddy also released a great album this year, jam-packed with ideas and many different styles, yet it's still anchored by his sweet voice and the clever cover songs that he makes his own.)

PAUL McCARTNEY – Chaos and Creation in the Backyard
(Kinda cool that I can be on the same list as The Mac. He had some clunkers in the past few years. Nice to hear he can still weave silly love songs into pop gold.)

PEGGY HONEYWELL – Faint Humms

BRIGHT EYES – I'm Wide Awake It's Morning

ANDREW BIRD – The Mysterious Production of Eggs

THE SPINTO BAND – Nice and Nicely Done

GOLDFRAPP – Supernature

THE KNIFE – Deep Cuts

THE DITTY BOPS – The Ditty Bops


ON MY LIST LAST YEAR BUT WEREN'T POPULAR UNTIL THIS YEAR

FEIST – Let It Die

JEM – Finally Woken

REGINA SPECTOR – Soviet Kitsch

TEGAN AND SARA – So Jealous


GREAT ALBUMS THAT I MISSED LAST YEAR

MAGNETIC FIELDS – I

ELLIOT SMITH – From a Basement on the Hill


TOP TEN FAVORITE SONGS OF THE YEAR

10. (tie) MADONNA – "Hung Up"

10. (tie) GWEN STEFANI – "Hollaback Girl"

09. ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI – "Do The Whirlwind"

08. THE DUKE SPIRIT – "Cuts Across The Land"

07. (tie) MIA DOI TODD – "Tongue-Tied"

07. (tie) MADELEINE PEYROUX – "Dance Me To The End Of Love"

06. SCOUT NIBLETT – "Ruler Of My Heart"

05. (tie) NOSTALGIA 77 – "Seven Nation Army"

05. (tie) AMON TOBIN – "El Cargo"

04. YOLANDA ADAMS – "Victory"

03. DYNAMITE HAM – "Lovelier Than Ever"

02. (tie) FIONA APPLE – "Better Version of Me" (bootleg version)

02. (tie) LAVENDER DIAMOND – "You Broke My Heart"

01. BETTYE LAVETTE – "I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got"


TOP TEN CONCERTS OF THE YEAR

10. BRIGHT EYES and TILLY AND THE WALL @ Town Hall, January 27th

09. DOLLY PARTON @ Radio City Music Hall, August 14th

08. FIONA APPLE @ Virgin Megastore, September 20th

07. (tie) RILO KILEY @ Webster Hall, May 26th
(One of the tightest pop bands around right now. The ever-so-slight country twang from Jenny Lewis whets my appetite for her solo debut due soon.)

07. (tie) CELEBRATION @ Bowery Ballroom, November 5th
(The singer got her ass in the audience several times. If music was a religion, this would be the best preacher in the tri-state area.)

06. NIKKA COSTA @ Canal Room, October 22nd
(The female Prince is much better live where she can let it all hang out.)

05. FEIST @ Bowery Ballroom, June 25th
(A beautiful voice, melancholy songs, top-notch talent, and NYC's best venue made this a memorable night. I think my heat skipped three or four beats when she said hi to me at the bar.)

04. M.I.A. @ The Knitting Factory, February 5th
(Even though it was packed and stuffy, the girl could've gone on for hours with the same groove, her infectious smile and joyful sass. Her fans knew, the Knit was the center of the universe that night, and she was gonna be BIG!)

03. THE ARCADE FIRE @ Irving Plaza, February 2nd
(A breathtakingly energetic performance, included an encore with David Byrne. One of the very few times I was willing to shell out $180 for a pair of tickets, but it was well worth it especially since I eventually had to miss their Summerstage show.)

02. BETTYE LAVETTE @ Knitting Factory, December 4th
(For an over-60-year-old woman, she has a tremendous amount of sex appeal. Backed by a top-notch band of session musicians, she worked her audience into a frenzy of adulation.)

01. LHASA DE SELA @ Bowery Ballroom, June 30th
(The best singer of what I call "Sadness Porn". Sometimes you just need a good cry and Lhasa is the perfect singer to wring it out of you.)


MORE GREAT CONCERTS

LHASA DE SELA @ Satalla, February 6th

NEKO CASE @ Bowery Ballroom, February 13th

FEIST @ Joe's Pub, March 22nd

NELLIE MCKAY @ Irving Plaza, March 30th

LEZ ZEPPELIN @ The Cutting Room, April 22nd

DITTY BOPS @ Mercury Lounge, June 9th

TEGAN AND SARA @ Webster Hall, July 14th

THE JUAN MACLEAN @ Tribeca Grand, July 23rd

FEIST @ Knitting Factory, September 13th

SI SE @ Sol, October 19th

JAKE SHIMABUKURO @ Rothko's, October 27th

NEKO CASE @ Joe's Pub, November 17th

GOLDFRAPP @ Nokia Theater, December 5th


May the Force of Music Be with You!

Happy New Year,
Dave Ratzlow

Lavender Diamond

The new 4-track E.P., The Cavalry of Light, by Lavender Diamond showcases the sweet soprano of Becky Stark who sings a delicate 1960s-inspired folk. The standout track is "You Broke My Heart", the liveliest of the bunch, which is set to a simple driving rhythm and slowly builds intensity. "Rise In The Springtime" sounds like Nico as if produced by Badly Drawn Boy, it's simple arrangement of piano/guitar/violin getting more dramatic towards the end. A Stark solo, "Why Oh Why", which somewhat reworks "You Broke My Heart" on just guitar and voice, is also available for download.

Thanks to Two and 1/2 Pounds of Bacon for the tip.

Camille

With percolating rhythms and tight harmonies, French singer Camille submits further evidence that pop music doesn't have to be cheesy or lacking in intimacy. The key, I think, is that on her new album Le Fil, Camille layers much of the album with a variety of sounds made by her own voice instead of the same synth and guitar sounds that we hear all the time, yet retains the catchy exuberance of the best pop music. My French is pretty bad these days, but I think I'd follow her unique siren's call anywhere. Fans of the quirky vocal qualities of Regina Spektor and the feisty pop of Nelly Furtado should definitely have a listen. You may already know about her as one of the singers on the punk covers project Nouvelle Vague where she does sultry versions of "The Guns of Brixton", "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Too Drunk To Fuck". Check out what she does on her own with the strange and fun new video for the first single " Ta Douler" (.rm). A video of a song from her previous album, "Paris" (.mpg), is available online as well.

Special thanks to videos.antville.org for turning me on to her.

Young People

The new E.P. by Young People, Five Sunsets In Four Days sets the stage for what may be an excellent third album due out in January on Too Pure Records.

Utilizing only a few instruments, Young People play a slightly experimental rock, unafraid of a little dissonance, slightly odd song structures or hiccuping rhythms. The E.P. opens with "Hot Horse", a simple driving rock number that showcases their loose and reverberant live sound interrupted by silence, noise and dramatic vocals by Katie Eastburn who recalls both Bjork and Shannon Wright.

There are some thrilling sonic moments on this 6-track E.P. "Wild Boys of the Road" starts as a simple rock jam but is interrupted by a rhythmic buzz that sounds like a warning alarm at a nuclear power plant on the verge of meltdown. "Night Nurse", full of erratic staccato guitar hits and a simple bass, perfectly compliments Eastburn’s expert modulation between a whisper and a howl.

None of the new songs are online yet, but these older songs give you a good sense of what they are up to:

"Ne'er Do Well"
"El Paso"
"Ron Jeremy"
"Collection"

Dynamite Ham

My good friend Ethan Stoller recently released his debut album under the name Dynamite Ham. The album, I Believe In You features songs by two of his favorite songwriters: famed Broadway/Hollywood composer Frank Loesser and Dr. Frank from The Mr. T. Experience. But this is no mere collection of cover songs. Ethan has made each song his own, often transforming not only genre, but tone and tempo. The album showcases his versatility, talent and inventiveness with songs that range from boisterous tin-pan-alley to peppy hip hop. Through it all, his sweet soft voice holds it together.

"Lovelier Than Ever", with its gentle mbira in the background, is hauntingly romantic. "Thinking of You" is a sweet county-tinged love song that makes you wish someone wrote the song just for you. And in "Two Martinis From Now" he affirms that even though he's overflowing with ideas, he still has the confidence to allow only his voice and minimal instrumentation carry the song and tell the story.

By turns joyous and contemplative, I Believe In You is a mini-masterpiece. I've been a fan for 20 years. Welcome to the club.

Check out more samples on his website.

Andrew Morgan

Released earlier this year by Sonic Boom Recordings, the debut album by Lawrence, Kansas native Andrew Morgan is a sweet and melancholy pop gem. Mostly recorded at Elliot Smith's New Monkey recording studio in 2002, Misadventures in Radiology invokes Smith as well as Badly Drawn Boy and Ed Harcourt. But some unique touches, including tight harmonies and lush orchestration, bring to mind ELO and Brian Wilson too, especially the stirring strings of "Misadventures..." and the harpsichord on "This Awful Room". No, not all that original, but a sweet treat if you're like me and can't get enough of this sort of thing. Any of these songs would fit perfectly in a Wes Anderson film.

"Aligned on the Steps"
"Misadventures in Radiology"
"This Awful Room"
"Supine On The Covers"

Five For Five

New albums hit the stores every Tuesday, and you’ll find me almost every Tuesday around 6PM at either Other Music or Tower Records on 4th and Broadway. Yesterday, I scored big. All five of the albums I bought are winners:

1) Celebration - S/T
I’ve posted about these guys before and I have a feeling they're gonna be big. They put on a wild live show and the album does a good job of capturing some of that energy. Apparently recorded in a day, the album showcases a young and confident band with a lot of power and ideas, invoking The Clash, Siouxsie, Blonde Redhead and TV On The Radio (who had a hand in producing this album). Hear a song sample on their myspace page. They next play NYC on 11/5, opening for Calla at The Bowery Ballroom.

2) Mouse On Mars - Live 04
No other blip hop group rocks as hard live as Mouse On Mars. For their most recent tour, gearheads Andi Toma and Jan St. Werner brought on drummer and vocalist Dodo Nkishi (I believe for the first time), and the results are thrilling. They've always been the best at making electronic music sound like it's "of this earth", but by adding a human drummer, they heighten the visceral experience. Some song samples buried in their website, but you should just trust me on this one.

3) Matt Pond PA - Several Arrows Later
MPPA play a dense slightly pensive pop similar to The Shins. Thanks to a song featured on The O.C., this small-label indie band has garnered a lot of fans in a short amount of time. I caught their excellent live show this Spring surrounded by screeching college girls with fresh Spring Break hickeys. The new record offers smart lyrics to swoon over too, as well as some catchy tunes, both especially well represented on the title track. Their website has yet to be updated, but you can hear some older songs on their myspace page which give an idea of what they're up to.

4) Deerhoof - The Runners Four
I’ve been a big fan of prog-punk band Deerhoof for quite a few years even though I can only listen to them in small doses. Most of their albums have as many unlistenable songs as gems. But when they rock, they really rock. This album, as a whole, is a much moodier and mellower than usual, and at times, very sweet. On the best songs, like "Twin Killers" and "Rrrrrrright" that balance that sweetness with the screechy punk that they've always done so well. Hear some samples of the new 20-track album on their myspace page.

5) Lpfunk - E.P.
If you can imagine the musical intersection of The Violent Femmes, Van Halen and the folk-rock of Rod Stewart, you get a good idea of what LPfunk is up to. His brand new 4-song EP produced by Don Dilego (who also produced a few tracks on my album) is a rollicking good time, capturing some of his live energy while filling out the songs with some nice and subtle flourishes. No online samples yet, but you can catch him live every Tuesday at Jack's Stir Brew Coffee, 138 West 10th Street, Manhattan.

Cat Power MP3!

You probably all know Cat Power (AKA Chan Marshall) by now. If you don’t, she is one of the most expressive singers of modern times and you most certainly should pick up one of her last three albums, 5-star records all. Her new album is not due out until late January, but in the meantime, to ease the painful longing of so many ardent fans, Matador Records is providing an mp3 of one of the new songs:

"The Greatest"

Featuring an All-Star lineup of Memphis session musicians, the album sounds like another winner. No, Matador, the painful longing has only increased.

Sarianna

Trolling through the back waters of myspace.com, I recently discovered Sarianna Sabbarese, a sultry and melancholy singer based in Boston.

Daughter of a founding member of jazz vocal group The Manhattan Transfer (who have been around for ages), Sarianna can apparently play any instrument, but she knows enough to keep her arrangements simple. She sounds a bit like Aimee Mann with a head cold, but her songs are uniquely lovely, catchy and mature.

Check out her myspace page for music samples, especially "Among Friends" which invokes the love songs of The Magnetic Fields and early 60s pop.

She’s also in a band called My Dearest Screwtape with Sean Spada and together they do a great cover of "Wicked Little Town" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

I'll let her describe herself:

"I'm in my early twenties, but I don't feel a day over sixteen. I started playing piano when I was three years old and started recording songs when I was twelve. I am a libertarian. I attended college when I was in high school. I have limited respect for academic success. I have never tweezed my eyebrows. I have the sex drive of a Yohimbine-fueled male rabbit in its prime. I believe in energetic reincarnation. I adore graphic novels and cheesy zombie/gore/stop-motion/troma/outer space movies. I know first-hand that blondes suffer actual, unjust persecution."

Sounds like a neat girl. Write her a note and she'll sell you a CD.

Au Revoir Simone

Well, it's only been a few weeks, but readers must know by now that I buy a lot of albums made by pretty girls. But honestly, I didn't know how utterly gorgeous are the young women behind Au Revoir Simone until after I bought their debut album, Verses of Comfort, Assurance & Salvation. I merely thought the name had a lovely sound to it and besides, the CD was on sale at Other Music for only 6 bucks.

Well, I'm glad I took the risk. This Brooklyn-based 3-piece play a sweet casio-pop reminiscent of early Stereolab, Ladytron and Juana Molina. They never really stray far beyond 'nice and mellow', but here and there, they do exhibit some of the inventiveness and complexity of a world-class band like Fiery Furnaces. Certainly, a band to keep on the radar.

Some music samples:
"Back In Time"
"Through The Backyards"

In NYC catch them live before they go on tour in Japan:
Friday, October 14th at Pianos, 158 Stanton Street
Saturday, October 15th at North 6th, 66 North Sixth Street, Willamsburg

Bettye LaVette

I often buy albums for no other reason than that they have a nice cover (especially if it features a pretty girl). At least 25% of these gambles have turned out to be great records. I discovered Joanna Newsom, Feist and CocoRosie in this way for example.

Yesterday, in my habitual Tuesday night CD-buying frenzy, I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise by Bettye LaVette caught my eye for some reason. Something about this somber face in a sea of black, an older woman I've never heard of before, intrigued me. Who the hell is she?

A sticker on the album — released yesterday by ANTI- Records (home of Tom Waits, Jolie Holland, The Black Keys and Daniel Lanois) — offered a few clues with two plugs:

"You've got a singer here who is willing to stretch and not content to live in the safety zone. Bettye Lavette's voice is the superb line that connects Lucinda Williams' "Joy" to Dolly Parton's "Little Sparrow" via numbers by Sinead O'Connor and Joan Armatrading. Those songs never sounded better and neither has one of R&B greatest under-acknowledged vocalists."
- Elvis Costello

"Ache has never sounded so funky. Weary, wise, defiant and vulnerable, Bettye's a force of nature... She's outdone herself on this one."
- Bonnie Raitt

Of course I had to buy it. I will say right now, I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise is one of the best albums of the year. LaVette, who had some minor hits 40 years ago, knows what she's doing. Full of raw emotion and elemental arrangements, if you like old soul music, you will love this album.

Hear for yourself:
"Down To Zero"
"The High Road"

If you buy the album, you'll get to hear a great a cappella Sinead O'Connor cover as well as a biting Fiona Apple cover. Also online for your listening pleasure, are these classic tracks:
"You’ll Never Change"
"Let Me Down Easy"

And if that ain't enough, check out her recent performance on the Late Show with David Letterman.

The Spinto Band

Not very original but still a very solid band from Wilmington, Delaware, The Spinto Band play ultra catchy indie pop reminiscent of The Shins, The Flaming Lips, New Pornographers and especially Pavement. But this 7-piece band has its own thing going on as well, offering unexpected arrangements and rousing choruses. Indie pop doesn't get much better than this. If only their new album Nice And Nicely Done came out with this album four years ago they might have been able to break from the pack. Then again, four years ago, they were still in high school, so they certainly have the time (and the talent) to try something else.

Check out music samples on their flash-based website as well as on the Bar None Records website.

The Noisettes

I don't know much about The Noisettes, but I stumbled upon one of their songs on the Internet recently and wanted to share it.

Their advance single "Don't Give Up" combines the spunk of Karen O. and the riff-rock of AC/DC in a short and dynamic up-tempo jam.

It appears there are a few bands that have (or have had) the name Noisettes or The Noisettes, but this is the one with the feisty black chick on vocals.

You can catch them in NYC next Tuesday, September 27th, 2005 at The Mercury Lounge.

The Duke Spirit

UK band The Duke Spirit play a tough and lush bluesy rock. They lay down some dirty grooves that invoke The Velvet Underground and early Blondie.

There are a lot of similar rock bands out there right now, but it is the husky British warble of singer Liela Moss that takes them a cut above the rest. The first thing you’ll hear is that she sounds a lot like PJ Harvey, but I also hear touches of Nico, Martina Topley-Bird and even Jim Morrison.

Their debut album Cuts Across The Land produced by Flood and former Cocteau Twins leader Simone Raymond was released this May, but as far as I can tell, they haven’t yet made it to the states. They seem like they put on a great live show though. They have the looseness of a great garage band, but the inventiveness of an art rock band. It’s nice when bands have enough talent to be able to loosen up a bit and play purposefully out of tune, slightly off beat. It humanizes them and creates a more intimate and visceral experience. Imagine if similar bands like Garbage had the confidence to do such a thing and cast off their current over-produced sound.

Check out their songs and videos on their website, especially the jangley "Lion RIP" and "Red Weather" which ends with a piece of beautiful crunchy noise.

Their album is out now on Loog Records, which is also home to The Bravery, Soledad Brothers and some other rockers worth checking out.

And if none of this has convinced you so far, check out The Duke Spirit’s gorgeous new video for the song "Cuts Across The Land" directed by Japanese animator Woof Wan Bau.

Celebration

The center of the universe on Sunday night was Union Pool in Williamsburg. TV On The Radio headlined a hurricane relief concert, but the real revelation of the night (for me at least) was an amazingly tight and energetic band from Baltimore called CELEBRATION, who did an intense set of angst-filled new wave rock. You will be hearing a lot about this band in the coming months.

In NYC you have two chances to check them out this week:

September 16, at Beggars & Matador Records 2005 CMJ Party
at Scenic, 25 Avenue B (btwn 2nd & 3rd)

September 17, at the Fader/Adult Swim CMJ
at Lounge, 175 Orchard Street

Check out their myspace page for more tour dates and a song sample.

Also, be on the look out for their debut album produced by David Sitek of TV On The Radio coming out October 11 on 4AD Records.

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