Artist: Tim Buckley
Album: Live At The Folklore Center, NYC - March 6, 1967 (2009)
Track: “Just Please Leave Me”

I’ve sort of slipped on updating the Sunday Albums feature, but I haven’t forgotten about it! Here’s a perfect one for your end of weekend afternoon.

The great Tim Buckley lived a short life, filled with bursts of brilliance (much like his son, Jeff). Based in L.A. in the 60’s and early 70’s, his base style was ostensibly folk, but he brought in jazz, rock, and other very progressive elements into his music throughout his career.

Live At The Folklore Center finds Tim stripped down playing within the confines of one of the epicenters of the 1960’s Village folk scene. This one’s just Buckley’s incredible voice and guitar. He fires off song after song, “I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain,” “Dolphins,” and “I Can’t See You” being a few of my favorites.

I can’t help but to think of this album as some sort of kindred companion to Jeff Buckley’s Live at Sin-E, which he recorded in New York City in 1993 if I’m not mistaken. Jeff’s was a much more rambling and spontaneous affair, with tons of monologue and messing around when he wasn’t showcasing his brilliant voice and electric guitar wizardry. But through the recording, you can tell the audience is intensely waiting on every note, every rise and minor fall and major lift. The same goes for Tim Buckley’s Folklore album. You can tell the audience is in on something amazing, enraptured in Buckley’s every word and story. Just a handful of people experiencing something rare. He separates himself more from the audience than Jeff, with hardly any interplay with the crowd outside of his actual performing. But he’s just as captivating.

Even though the final tune is “I Can’t Leave You Loving Me,” that’s a hard pill to actually swallow. It’s fast-paced, gets your heart racing and jumping, and quickly ends to a the singer’s quiet, “thank you.”

Tracklist:

01. Song For Janie
02. I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain
03. Wings
04. Phanstasmagoria In Two
05. Just Please Leave Me
06. Dolphins
07. I Can’t See You
08. Troubadour
09. Aren’t You The Girl
10. What Do You Do (He Never Saw You)
11. No Man Can Find The War
12. Carnival Song
13. Cripples Cry
14. If The Rain Comes
15. Country Boy
16. I Can’t Leave You Loving Me

Artist: Paul White
Album: The Strange Dreams of Paul White (2009)
Track: “Burnt By The Sun”
Buy: iTunes // Amazon

If I were to rank the albums on my Best of 2009 list, this would be firmly in the top five. Maybe top three. Hell, this could be the one.

Rundown: Paul White runs One-Handed Music, based in London and home to a favorite artist of mine, Bullion. These producers are at the top of the first generation A.D. (After Dilla), taking Donuts-style A.D.D. sampling to a different level. But to be honest, I was a bit blind to Paul White at first, mostly because Bullion was that good. There couldn’t be two producers of his caliber on a such a small imprint. Only One Can Win, right?

Wrong. At 38-minutes and 21 tracks long, The Strange Dreams Of Paul White is a non-stop, front-to-end masterpiece. Lord knows how many different sources were used. “Flying Across Tokyo” is has an otherworldy vibe which flows into head-thumping “The Uprising Of The Insane,” a track you wish would go on forever while your favorite MC tore it to shreds. “Time Wars” gets into electro territory. I can just imagine a raucous crowd hearing the alien nature of “City Bright Lights” for the first time going, “OOOOHHHHHH!!!”

“Burnt By The Sun” is another head-bouncer and relatively epic in length, clocking in at over two-minutes. “Sugar Free Airlines” brings the funk. “Surfing Off The Coast Of Mexico” sounds exactly like should. The main single from the album, “The Punch Drummer,” is like a deliberate march with echo-y female vocals in the background, while White channels his inner-Madlib on “Sleeping Clapping.” “Let Your Imagination Go” somehow sounds like G-Funk. The grand finale is exhilerating, led by layers of overdubbed organs. As quirky samples cut in and out and the song fades out, you think, “Did that really just happen?”

It’s not a dream. It’s that good.

Tracklist:

01. Cheese Special And A Draw
02. Flying Across Tokyo
03. The Uprising Of The Insane
04. Time Wars
05. City Bright Lights
06. Alien Nature
07. One Eye Open
08. The Composers’ Comeback
09. Burnt By The Sun
10. Waiting For Time
11. Sugar Free Airlines
12. Floating Free
13. Looking Out To See
14. Surfing Off The Coast Of Mexico
15. The Magic Tunetop
16. Road Rage
17. Sea Life
18. The Punch Drummer
19. Sleeping Clapping
20. Let Your Imagination Go
21. Can’t Sleep Make Music

Artist: Shawn Lee & Clutchy Hopkins
Album: Fascinating Fingers (2009)
Track: “70 MPH Isn’t Fast Enough To Get Out Of Nebraska”
Buy: iTunes // Amazon

Another album firmly in my Best of 2009 list. In no particular order, of course.

The prolific and ridiculously talented Shawn Lee hooks up for the second album he’s made with the mysterious (also prolific and talented) Clutchy Hopkins. The album is all over the place and sort of uncharacterizable, as it has elements of like, every genre ever througout. “Folk” is the feel I get throughout the whole project but not folk in any traditional sense. It feels American, and not only because of the track “70 MPH Isn’t Fast Enough To Get Out Of Nebraska” (sidenote: best song title of the year). It’s an instrumental affair and a fascinating exploration of sounds and styles.

Tracklist:

01. 70 Mph Isn’t Fast Enough To Get Out Of Nebraska
02. 7 Inch
03. Mimi Tatonka
04. Root Trees
05. Cross Rhodes
06. Chapter 2
07. Ancient Chinese Secret
08. Fish Sauce
09. Name Game
10. Bootie Beat
11. Willie GrooveMaker
12. What More Can I Say (Top Chillin’)

Album: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble - Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (2009)
Track: “Gibbous”
Buy: iTunes // Amazon

So begins my Best of 2009 countdown. Which really isn’t a countdown, as these albums won’t go up in any particular order. Rest assured, though, that these 20 or so handpicked albums are true to the label I’m filing them under. Some (many) have flown under most people’s radars, so I hope you find delight in discovering a new act or two you can really get behind.

And it begins with a BANG! The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is comprised of nine members, eight of whom are the offspring of trumpet player Phil Cohran, who spent some time in the Sun Ra Arkestra in the late 50’s. The group stays true to their name: eight brass players plus one funky drummer. And lord, are they hypnotic.

The concept itself is cool enough. Brass bands aren’t the norm anymore, but you can see a glimmer of a comeback if you look at The Roots and these excellent dudes out of Chicago. Clearly, they’re coming in from a hip-hop/soul angle (HBE have played and recorded with the likes of Mos Def, Erykah Badu, and Maxwell) but on their own, they manage straight up old time funkin grooves. The album plays like a rollicking down-south party. When they slow the tempo down, it’s for smoothness if not a quick breath in between dances. It’s still as good now as it was upon first listen, even after plowing through it on repeat. It got me hypnotized.

Tracklist:

01. Alyo
02. Gibbous
03. War
04. Ballicki Home
05. Flipside
06. Marcus Garvey
07. Jupiter
08. Party Started
09. Rabbit Hop
10. Sankofa
11. Hypnotic
12. Satin Sheets
13. Rabbit Hop (Version)

Album: Donald Byrd - Electric Byrd (1970)
Track: “Estavanico”
Buy: iTunes // Amazon

It’s hard to listen to this and not immediately think fusion-era Miles Davis (Bitches Brew, specifically, which was also released in 1970) but that’s not a knock on the album as much as it’s a testament to its brilliance. Electric Byrd is a sprawling, psychadelic, distortion-filled, and generally far-out-there masterpiece. It somehow manages to blend crazy improv and constant rhythmic changes while incorporating bits of Tropicalia, straight-up funk, and, oh yeah, jazz. This is a period piece that will never get old.

Tracklist:
01. Estavanico
02. Essence
03. Xibaba
04. The Dude

Album: The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2001)
Track: “Since I Left You”
Buy: iTunes // Amazon

This one gets filed under “essential.”

From the first track - the title track - the tone is set: entirely sample-based, full of life from old vinyl, party sounds, tv and movie talking, cackling… the whole kit-and-caboodle (yay, first time ever writing that phrase).

According to the group, the album is made up of over 3500 samples from vinyl. The tracks flow in and out of each other, never a break for you, the listener. So get ready to party. If ever there were an album to attach “can’t stop, won’t stop” to, it’s this one.

Best enjoyed with the volume to 11 on a good sound system or with headphones to enjoy the party-ness of the album or the layers upon layers of samples, respectively.

Tracklist:

01. Since I Left You
02. Stay Another Season
03. Radio
04. Two Hearts In 3/4 Time
05. Avalanche Rock
06. Flight Tonight
07. Close To You
08. Diners Only
09. A Different Feeling
10. Electricity
11. Tonight
12. Pablo’s Cruise
13. Frontier Psychiatrist
14. Etoh
15. Summer Crane
16. Little Journey
17. Live At Dominoes
18. Extra Kings

Album: Efterklang & The Danish National Chamber Orchestra - Performing Parades (2009)
Track: “Polygyne”
Buy: iTunes // Amazon

Mesmerizing.

That’s what this album is. This is one one of those pure musical discoveries that justifies any and everything in the music exploration process. So pure.

I came across this album never having heard of the group much less read anything about them. No referrals. No reviews. Just the album name and the tracklist were enough for me to give it a chance. A group performing live with The Danish National Chamber Orchestra? Interesting concept.

And I’m blown the fuck away.

Give this one a go.

Tracklist:

01. Polygyne
02. Mirador
03. Him Poe Poe
04. Horseback Tenors
05. Mimeo
06. Frida Found A Friend
07. Maison De Réflexion
08. Blowing Lungs Like Bubbles
09. Caravan
10. Illuminant
11. Cutting Ice To Snow

Album: 2562 - Unbalance (2009)
Track: “Lost”
Buy: iTunes // Amazon

2562 is Dave Huismans, dubstep/techno maker from the Netherlands. The man has been steady releasing quality goods on the Tectonic label since 2007, including his 2007 full-length debut Aerial and this just released hour of goodness, Unbalanace.

I really dig the minimalist techno sounds that he manages to push into dubsteppy-beat territory. “Like A Dream” sounds like something right from Detroit, but instead of bass/hi-hat eight notes, the beat shuffles underneath. The title track is a slow-builder that clocks in over seven-minutes, with keyboard wobbles and an ADD-riddled beat composition. You can see the knob-tweaking in the atmospheric “Love In Outer Space” that forms the base underneath some frenetic synth-lines and really neat hi-hat interplay.

All in all, a dope sophomore album from one badass Dutchman.

Tracklist:

01. Intro
02. Flashback
03. Lost
04. Like A Dream
05. Dinosaur
06. Unbalance
07. Superfight
08. Yes/no
09. Who Are You Fooling?
10. Narita
11. Love In Outer Space
12. Escape Velocity

Album: Zo! - Just Visiting Too… (2009)
Track: “My Flame” ft. Phonte

I always love releases like this. A short, sweet (and FREE) download featuring some of today and tomorrow’s finest talent.

Zo! has been featured on this blog before, as a member of the Foreign Exchange touring band that I saw in Chicago a while back. He’s a super-talented multi-instrumentalist and producer. On this tasty sampler, he puts down some smooth tracks behind a myriad of talented vocalists.

This is a preface of sorts to his upcoming 2010 solo album, Sunstorm, as well as solo projects from Yahzarah and Phonte. All are to be released on the brand-new Foreign Exchange Music label. Nothing but quality and realness all around.

Tracklist:

01. Perfect Angel feat. Yahzarah
02. Nights Over Egypt feat. Carlitta Durand
03. Crazy You feat. Sy Smith
04. Holding You, Loving You
05. My Flame feat. Phonte
06. Somethin Special feat. Yahzarah
07. The Highways of My Life (Pts. 1&2) feat. Darien Brockington

Album: The Dirty Birds - How The Cause Became The Cure (2009)
Track: “Valentine’s Day”
Buy: iTunes

This is one I’ve been meaning to put up since this blog’s inception but have put off for some reason.

The Dirty Birds, originally out of Ann Arbor but now residing in the City that is New York, have concocted an album with intricate self-arranged awesomeness, from the strings to the melodies, the basslines to the vibes* and lyrics, that manages to stay simple enough to digest and enjoy on a surface level. But it’s really served best if you let your ears and your mind delve deeper.

“What I Realized” starts off with gently sweeping strings leading into a 3/4-waltz when Jared Saltiel’s lead vocals float in: “I was a follower of all kinds of hollow words/I walked the path that lead straight to the sea.” On top of vibes (!) and woodwinds, the song trickles along through a couple momentary key-changes delicately and is a perfect display of the group’s maestroism (is that a word?).

“Miserable Turn Of Events” is pop at it’s most awesome. A “1-2/1-2-3 WHOO!” starts the song, chock-full of clap-clap, claps and eventual “ooh la-la-las” that shows off Saltiel’s vocal range. “Caitlin” (ha) tells the tale of a boy in over his naive-little-head, having fallen in love for the first time, in unfamiliar territory. “It’s just a matter of time ‘til you die.” Indeed.

“Katrina” and “Promised Land” slow things down a bit and show off the lyrical depth of the group. But once again, they comeback with some bonafide pop goodness with a folksy tinge to it, 2 and-a-half minutes of a shuffling drum-beat and harmonica and all.

The “Self-Discipline” is like a Fiona Apple song (in the best sense) with another melodic chorus and more dynamic arrangements, this time with horns. Also, check out the shag-me guitar (and vibes!!).

The album ends just as awesome as it starts, but with much more urgency. “Saudade” and “The Problem” show just how deep they can go, both in subject matter and in instrumentation. Just do yourself and listen, and perhaps pick up some clues as to the meaning behind the album title.

“Valentine’s Day” is a personal favorite, one I can relate to quite a bit I think. It’s the most straightforward, rock ‘n roll intense track. The song steadily builds, and the guitar solo in the middle is over-the-top but kills. “I’ve had a most unsettling fear of another aimless year…”

“What are we doing for Valentine’s Day? What am I doing but wasting away? What does it matter? It’s over anyway” ends the song. How The Cause Became The Cure, however, sounds just like the start of something special.

*contemporary music needs more vibraphone.

Tracklist:

01. What I Realized
02. Miserable Turn Of Events
03. Caitlin
04. Just As Blue
05. Katrina
06. Promised Land
07. Checkmate
08. Self-Discipline
09. Valentine’s Day
10. Saudade
11. The Problem