I'm pretty excited that Carla Bozulich, who's dabbled in seemingly dozens of bands and projects over the years, has finally set a date for her first solo album of original material, Evangelista, to be released in June. However, my first glance at the cover art was eerily familiar, for its similarity to her frequent collaborator Nels Cline's 2000 album The Inkling, which was actually dedicated to Carla:




Also, this is apparently the template that the hip hop industry was using for self-titled flops in '03:

Labels: Carla Bozulich, hip hop, links, Nels Cline

This week in Stylus, I contributed to the Non-Definitive Guide to the Artist-Run Label feature, writing the last 2 label profiles for Roc-A-Fella Records (nothing that people don't really already know about in there) and Smells Like Records, who are close to my heart and considerably more obscure. I don't have every release on Steve Shelley's label, and I don't love all of the ones I've heard (the Mosquito album is one of the rare instances in which I took a CD back to the store after one listen for reasons other than scratches on the disc). But it's still probably my favorite tiny indie vanity label ever, and means way more to me than just any old Sonic Youth side project. Here are some of my favorite selections from their catalog:

La Lengua Asesina - "Hotel Opera" (mp3)
For anyone who's ever wondered about the origin of my AOL e-mail address, it's this, the brief slide guitar instrumental title track from Hotel Opera, the 1998 album by La Lengua Asesina, a side project of Tim Foljahn. Foljahn's main project is Two Dollar Guitar, my favorite Smells Like band, who I'll talk more about tomorrow. It kind of amazes me that I've had that e-mail address since shortly after this record came out, almost 8 years ago. Man, that makes me feel old.

Chris Lee - "Mount Venus" (mp3)
One of the most memorable introductions I've ever had to an artist via a live show would have to be when Chris Lee played a Smells Like label showcase in 2001. He opened his set with an amazing solo rendition of Tim Buckley's "Song To The Siren," and then played with the same backing band from his self-titled first album (including Andrew Barker, who I've barely heard anywhere else but might be one of the greatest drummers I've ever seen/heard). Chris Lee is a soul singer with a voice like Steve Perry from Journey with a little Southern twang added in, which might look terrible on paper, but he's made some really good, slept on records, in addition to playing with The Sands. And the best of his 3 solo albums is the one he did for Smells Like, 2001's Chris Lee Plays And Sings Torch'd Songs, Charivari Hymns & Oriki Blue-Marches. His official site has mp3's of some of my favorite songs from him, but here's another that's real quiet and pretty, and is kinda long because there's a hidden instrumental track at the end that sounds pretty awesome awesome..

Scarnella - "Release The Spring" (mp3)
Carla Bozulich's official site has mp3's from throughout her entire career, including some of my favorites by The Geraldine Fibbers ("Lilybelle," "Dragon Lady," "Butch") and Ethyl Meatplow ("Ripened Peach"), but the selection from Scarnella, the wonderfully bizarre 1998 album with Nels Cline, "Death By Northwest," is one of my least favorite tracks on that record. For a record that was made entirely by 2 people in a short span of time, it really does cover a pretty wide range of their abilities, from aggressive noise improv to torch ballads to giddy punk. I'll have to go with "Release The Spring," though, partly for the timeliness of the selection, and partly for that amazing spidery opening guitar riff, and the way Nels stomped on a bass drum to keep time during the song the one time I saw them play as Scarnella, opening for The Boredoms in '99.

Cat Power - "Rockets" (mp3)
I'm of the minority that was only really feeling Cat Power on those first 3 albums with Shelley/Foljahn backing where Chan Marshall's voice really cut through those muddy lo-fi riffs. Moon Pix, while about half really good, was the beginning of the end, as far as smoothing out her sound for a Garden Stateified fanbase that would actually put up with the bullshit she calls a live show.

Christina Rosenvinge - "Green Room" (mp3)
This tune has a somewhat convoluted history, from being penned by Tim Foljahn and originally released as "Chambre Vert" (the title translated to French, although the lyrics were always in Engligh) on the La Lengua Asesina album, and then recorded by Two Dollar Guitar for Weak Beats & Lame Ass Rhymes with Christina Rosenvinge guesting on lead vocals, and then recorded again by pretty much the same personnel (but with a slightly softer, less rock'n'roll arrangement) for Rosenvinge's Frozen Pool album. Plus there's a full band TDG version with Foljahn on vocals that they played on tour, which might be my favorite.

Note: In light of the end of Stylus in 2007, I decided to archive the text of all my reviews for the site on this blog for posterity, since I don't what the future holds for the Stylus domain:

Smells Like

Started: 1992

How It Started: Sonic Youth is an almost an indie cottage industry unto itself, with its various side projects and noise improv one-offs spreading out over countless homegrown labels. Meanwhile, drummer Steve Shelley has quietly gone about building a catalog of of rootsy, down-tempo lo-fi that owes a greater debt to Neil Young than the band's post-punk influences with his Smells Like Records label, over the course of 15 years and a few dozen releases.

Smells Like's first release was a 7-inch by Lou Barlow's Sentridoh, and true to those origins, the label's become something of a haven for side projects, including Dump (Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew), Mosquito (Half Japanese frontman Jad Fair), and Scarnella (a stunning and experimental 1998 collaboration between Carla Bozulich and Nels Cline of the Geraldine Fibbers). But Smells Like is more than just a vanity label for sidelines by estalished indie lifers, having signed a number of young unknowns including The Clears, Nod, and New York crooner Chris Lee, whose 2001 sophomore album stands out as one of Smells Like's finest moments.

Smells Like has also fought to keep cult heroes in print, including a 1994 EP by the reunited Raincoats. But perhaps the label's most ambitious project has been a 1999 campaign of reissues of solo albums by iconoclastic 70's pop songwriter Lee Hazelwood, including his first new album in decades. But Smells Like might still be best known as the home of the SYR imprint, which has issued Sonic Youth's series of experimental EPs, beginning with 1997's SYR1.

Where They Are Now: Smells Like still occasionally takes on new artists, most recently issuing debut albums by Ursa Minor and Tony Scherr. And they continue to foster long-term relationships with new albums by Christina Rosenvinge, Nod, and Fuck frontman Timothy Prudhomme, while Tim Foljahn has been hinting at a new Two Dollar Guitar album for years. The SYR series is still going strong with this year's SYR6, and Smells Like has handled the vinyl releases of Sonic Youth's more recent major label albums and its latest spate of reissues, including the long-awaited repressing of their 1981 debut EP.
[Al Shipley]

Roc-A-Fella

Started: 1995

How It Started: Hip-hop has virtually redefined the business model for artist-run labels, with nearly every up-and-coming MC now aiming for the ownership of their own company. And although Master P's No Limit Records set the standard for the independent grind in the South, no label has been more influential in popularizing the artist-run major label imprint than Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records.

Founded with business partners Damon Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke after they had no luck getting him signed to a major label, Roc-A-Fella issued Jay's earlier singles, including "In My Lifetime," before getting distribution from Priority Records for his debut album, the 1996 classic Reasonable Doubt. It wasn't until 1998 when Roc-A-Fella partnered with Def Jam that Jay-Z was propelled to multi-platinum status, however.

It's to the credit of Jay-Z's marketing skills that he made Roc-A-Fella a recognized brand name despite being one of its only successful artists for several years. Aside from DJ Clue's two platinum mixtape albums, no non-Jay-Z release sold a million copies until Cam'ron's Come Home With Me in 2002. By that point, Roc-A-Fella had only modest sales to show for Philly hardcore rapper Beanie Sigel, Jay's Brooklyn crony Memphis Bleek, and the flop debut by female rapper Amil. But together, they presented a unified front as one of the most feared crews in the rap game.

The 2000 album Dynasty: Roc La Familia, stuffed with posse cuts, went a long way toward establishing the brand. But what really solidified Roc-A-Fella as a sound all its own was Jay-Z's 2001 album The Blueprint, which made in-house producers Just Blaze and Kanye West the hottest beatmakers in the game overnight, and brought soul sampling back in vogue in hip-hop. And in 2004, just months after Jay-Z announced his retirement from hip hop with The Black Album, West became the label's second multi-platinum franchise with his debut as a rapper, The College Dropout.

In recent years, Roc-A-Fella haphazardly expanded its roster, signing countless artists who never ended up releasing an album, including questionable choices like ex-Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and several underutilized veteran rappers. M.O.P. was on the label for years before moving onto a new deal with G-Unit, and Ol' Dirty Bastard passed away while working on an album for the label. Meanwhile, rumors swirled of a growing rift between Jay-Z and Dame Dash, which they denied adamantly right up until their partnership was dismantled.

Where They Are Now: Def Jam were so impressed with Jay-Z's business acumen in running one of the company's most successful labels that in 2004, he was offered the job of President of Def Jam. But the terms of the deal included Jay-Z, Dash, and Burke selling their remaining 50% share of Roc-A-Fella to Def Jam, effectively ending the partnership that the label had started. Dash has moved on with the unsuccessful Damon Dash Music Group, and one of the artists he brought to Roc-A-Fella, Cam'ron, left Def Jam and dissed Jay-Z on record. Aside from Kanye West's sophomore album, the continued success of Roc-A-Fella has yet to be seen, with meager sales of recent albums by Memphis Bleek, the Young Gunz, and Teairra Mari.
[Al Shipley]

Labels: Carla Bozulich, Chris Lee, mp3, Nels Cline, some shit I wrote, Sonic Youth, Stylus, Two Dollar Guitar

Nels Cline Trio - "Where Is Your Woman?" (mp3)
Good recent interview with Nels Cline here, which reveals how close my opinion of his best work is to his own; 5 of the 6 albums he mentions in the answer to the question about what recordings he's most proud of are in the top 7 of my old list (which could stand to be updated). Real mind meld there, which is fitting I guess, since my birthday is two days after his and his twin brother Alex's.

Labels: mp3, Nels Cline

Nels Cline / Wally Shoup / Chris Corsano - "Beard Of Pine" (mp3)

Last week Stylus ran my review of the album from which this comes, Immolation/Immersion. I probably could've written a bit more enthusiastically about it to earn it a grade higher than a C, but as far as Nels Cline improv discs go, I've heard better. One reader took it upon themselves to write a big long comment, though, about how great Nels is (no argument there) and how this is better than stuff like Sunburned Hand of The Man or No-Neck Blues, neither of which did I mention, nor have I ever even heard.

Note: In light of the end of Stylus in 2007, I decided to archive the text of all my reviews for the site on this blog for posterity, since I don't what the future holds for the Stylus domain, and have included both the letter grade ratting that accompanied the original review, and an adjusted rating that I would give the record now in retrospect.

Nels Cline / Wally Shoup / Chris Corsano
Immolation/Immersion
Strange Attractors
2005
Stylus rating: C
Adjusted rating by reviewer: C+

The endlessly inventive guitarist Nels Cline's 20-year recording career has gained much of its steam from his growing fame as a member of rock bands like the Geraldine Fibbers and Wilco, but his output in his original arena, experimental jazz, has never slowed as he perused more song-based genres. Immolation/Immersion is just the latest of scores of improvised recordings from Cline in some manner of group configuration with other noise/jazz journeymen. In this particular instance, his sparring partners are alto saxophonist Wally Shoup and percussionist Chris Corsano.

The Seattle-based Shoup, who previously collaborated with Cline buddy Thurston Moore on 2000's excellent live disc Hurricane Floyd, seems to lead the trio for much of Immolation/Immersion, softly blowing snatches of melody as Cline finds jazzy licks and guttural noises to complement them with. Corsano is the relative newcomer in the ensemble, and it's the instruments to which he's credited in the liner notes, "drumset, wires," that intrigue the most. It's unclear what kind of wires Corsano plays or how he plays them, but the sounds that he apparently makes with them during the moments when he's not drumming are curious and unique even in the context of an anything-goes improv session.

Immolation/Immersion is comprised of five tracks, recorded live in the studio, but more than half of the disc is taken up by the 28-minute title track. It's preceded only by the shortest track, "Lake Of Fire Memories," two minutes of horn blowing and amp noise that might seem to be a typical excerpt from such a session, but is scarcely repeated throughout the rest of the album. "Immolation/Immersion," is a comparatively restrained piece, but does work its way up to a slight climax at its conclusion, after a long series of seemingly unconnected sounds that could arguably be divided into movements.

The three shorter tracks that follow Immolation/Immersion's title track each feel like more unified and successful variations on one idea. On "Minus Mint," Cline and Shoup push around quiet, minimal themes, and the closing "Ghost Bell Canto" is an appropriately titled piece full of spare, spooky sounds. The 13-minute "Beard Of Pine" traverses several different phases more successfully and more organically than the title track. In its first half, Corsano's drums resolve into a fast bebop swing beat for the first, and possibly only, time on the album as Cline lets loose his trademark skronky runs of melody. But the second half reaches a frenetic collapse into a looser series of interactions between the instruments, and when those fragmented sounds build up again into ear-shredding noise at the end of "Beard Of Pine," the track becomes the closest thing to a satisfying composition that appears in the set.

If you find comfort in the nervous, unpredictable sounds that these improvisers make on dozens of releases and in hundreds of live dates, this noise will be music to your ears, but it's not going to set the discriminating listener's world on fire. Immolation/Immersion ranks behind last year's Ash and Tabula with Andrea Parkins and Tom Rainey in terms of Cline's recent improv trios, and Shoup and Corsano have had better showcases. But it's nonetheless a sturdy addition to the vast and growing catalogs of each musician.

Reviewed by: Al Shipley
Reviewed on: 2006-01-12

Labels: mp3, Nels Cline, some shit I wrote, Stylus

in my stereo:

Sheek Louch - After Taxes
Black Rob - The Black Rob Report
Trick Daddy - Thug Holiday
Petra Haden - Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out
Nels Cline / Wally Shoup / Chris Corsano - Immolation/Immersion
The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers
Lungfish - Feral Hymns
DNA/Don Brody - Bitches N Gunz
South Paw Entertainment - South Paw Entertainment
DJ Unique - Classic Odell's Club Mix Vol. 2

Labels: Baltimore music, Dischord, hip hop, In My Stereo, Nels Cline, Trick Daddy

Scott Amendola Band review in City Paper this week. Man, I'm prolific as hell lately, huh? Thanks to Jeff for sending me the promo.

Labels: City Paper, Nels Cline, some shit I wrote

Great Fluxblog selection the other day of one of my favorite Geraldine Fibbers tracks. Also, The Sands, who I mentioned a minute ago, have an mp3 up on Riff Raff, which says SFJ sings on it but I don't know what his voice sounds like and it sounds a lot like Chris Lee on some parts of it, maybe only harmonizing. I still don't get the whole Riff Raff/Riff Central thing, though. Are the interviews fake or just staged in a way that's supposed to be awkward and funny? Either way it reads like all those indie rock in-joke articles on The Onion.

Labels: Chris Lee, links, Nels Cline, The Geraldine Fibbers

in my stereo:

System of a Down - Mezmerize
K-Swift - Club Queen Vol. 6: The Return
Young Gunz - Brothers From Another
Karmella's Game - What He Doesn't Know Won't Hurt Him EP
B Rich - 80 Dimes
The Posies - Dear 23
The Mercury Program - A Data Learn The Language
The Nels Cline Singers - Instrumentals
Beauty Pill - The Unsustainable Lifestyle
Brendan Benson - One Mississippi

Labels: Baltimore music, Brendan Benson, Dischord, hip hop, In My Stereo, Nels Cline, The Posies

in my stereo:

Huli Shallone - It's My Turn
Trick Daddy - Book of Thugs: Chapter AK, Verse 47
Chisel - Set You Free
Travis Morrison - Travistan
Rod Lee - Operation: Start-Up
Enon - High Society
Nas - It Was Written
Superchunk - No Pocky For Kitty
Nels Cline Singers - The Giant Pin
Steely Dan - The Royal Scam

Labels: Baltimore music, Enon, In My Stereo, Nels Cline, Steely Dan, Superchunk, Ted Leo, Travis Morrison, Trick Daddy

I guess it's been on newsstands for a while now, but I'm always behind on reading my mailing lists so I just found out that Nels Cline is on the cover of the March issue of Guitar Player magazine. Which is crazy. I love that dude. I mean, I could see him being on the cover of The Wire or something, but Guitar Player? That's nuts. I guess it shouldn't come as such a surprise with his heightened profile after joining Wilco, but for some reason this is more surreal to me than all the other stuff it's brought in the past year, like Nels playing at Madison Square Garden and on Letterman and the SpongeBob movie soundtrack. More power to him, though. I'm kind of uneasy about the idea of feeling obligated to buy the next Wilco album, but it sounds like a mutually beneficial partnership and I have no problem with anything that involves one of my musical heroes getting some overdue recognition and financial stability. The article is pretty good, too (and the online version features mp3's of 2 of my favorite songs on The Giant Pin).

Labels: Nels Cline

my most anticipated albums of 2005:

Comp - My Thoughts (Chocolate City/Def Jam)
The first Baltimore MC to be signed to a major label since one hit wonder B Rich, Comp is carrying the hopes and dreams of one of the most slept on cities in hip hop on its back. His talent is still somewhat unproven, but having met him, I can say that he's got charisma and a good head on his shoulders for a 19-year-old kid. Being at the bottom of a big big label's list of priorities means there's no telling when his album will finally drop, but I'll continue to chart his course on Gov't Names.

Kanye West - Late Registration (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
Kanye hit a home run with his first album, so there's a lot of pressure on the follow up to deliver. A lot of people are sick of him already, and he didn't bring his A game on most of his outside productions and guest verses over the past year, but I feel like that's because he has so much invested in his solo career, so I hope that means he's ready to top himself.

The Posies - TBA (Rykodisc)
Since the Posies' last album, Success, and initial attempt at breaking up in 1998, they've released a rarities box set, a best of, 2 live albums, and an EP of new material, and have staged a handful of tours. But finally the on again off again Posies are a going concern again, and they have their first full length album of new material in 7 years in the can and ready to go. I'm so much more excited about this than anyone has a right to be.

Jon Auer - Songs From The Year Of Our Demise (Pattern 25)
Although Jon and Ken Stringfellow have always made roughly equal contributions to the Posies, Ken has been much busier in the years following the band's initial run, releasing 3 solo albums while Jon's been steadily working on and delaying his first for what's felt like an eternity.

Brendan Benson - Alternative To Love (StarTime International)
This is dropping March, and based on the single "What I'm Looking For", which you can download here, and the version of the title track that appeared on the Metarie EP, this should be at least as good as Lapalco. This time around, BB's chief collaborator was Jack White instead of Jason Falkner, which means there will probably be a good amount of hype behind it (MTV News already ran a story calling BB the "New Loretta Lynn"). But considering that the first time I saw Brendan live was when he headlined at Fletchers a few weeks after opening for the White Stripes at the Recher and the place was practically empty, you never know exactly how much that connection will help him.

Peedi Crakk - TBA (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam)
Given the current state of the Roc, this is another debut that may be stuck in label limbo for a while, but Peedi's resume of guest appearances so far ensures this will be worth checking it out, even if it continues in the State Property tradition of stalling at gold.

Cex - Invisible Sidis
2004 was the first year since his career began that Cex hasn't released an album, and considering that I loved one of the albums he released in '03 (Being Ridden) and didn't consider the other (Maryland Mansions) even worth checking out based on what I heard, I'm not sure how excited I am about this. But considering that his backing band on this one is going to be Nice Nice, the band who completely upstaged him when I saw open for him in '03, I'm hopeful about the results of their collaboration.

Nels Cline
He's got a list of some of the releases he's got coming in '05 on his website, and I'll probably buy at least half of them, especially the Thurston/Lee and Zeena Parkins collabos.

Other artists that I'm not entirely sure are putting out new albums this year but I'm hoping they will: Carla Bozulich, Grand Buffet, Two Dollar Guitar, Lake Trout, and Chris Lee. Plum Drank from Gel & Weave also put together an amazingly long list of hip hop albums dropping this year.

Labels: Baltimore music, Grand Buffet, hip hop, lists, Nels Cline, The Posies, Two Dollar Guitar

New weekly feature for the new year here on Narrowcast! I could've gone for the more alliterative day of the week, but I avoided it out of respect for Shaheem Reid's weekly dispatch from the streets, Mixtape Monday, which is pretty damn thorough for MTV News. Basically this is a celebration of the sad fact that I still listen to and make mixes on cassettes, and am probably one of the only people I know (at least in the realm of music nerds who own computers) who still hasn't made the jump to CD burners. It kind of sucks that hardly anyone even seems to have a tape deck anymore. I'm basically eager to make mixtapes for anyone who has something to play them on (so if anyone wants to trade, get at me). But I still make mixes to listen to in the car all the time (my car radio died a couple summers ago so I keep a boombox in the passenger seat). Anyway, this week's selection, a best of 2004 mix:

side 1:
1. Twista - "Get Me"
2. Bossman - "Openin' Arguments"
3. Cam'ron - "Bubble Music"
4. Cee-Lo f/ Pharrell - "The Art of Noise"
5. Trick Daddy - "I Wanna Sang"
6. Kanye West - "We Don't Care"
7. Nas - "Getting Married"
8. Talib Kweli f/ Jean Grae - "Black Girl Pain"
9. Jadakiss - "Still Feel Me"
10. T.I. - "Prayin' For Help"
11. Fabolous - "In My Hood"

side 2:
1. Beauty Pill - "The Western Prayer"
2. Elvis Costello and the Imposters - "Bedlam"
3. Mike Watt and the Secondmen - "The Angels Gate"
4. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - "The Angels' Share"
5. Spymob - "National Holidays"
6. Travis Morrison - "Che Guevara Poster"
7. Sonic Youth - "New Hampshire"
8. Ken Stringfellow - "Any Love (Cassandra et Lune)"
9. Elliott Smith - "A Distorted Reality Is Now A Necessity To Be Free"
10. The Nels Cline Singers - "He Still Carries A Torch For Her"

That's by no means a list of my favorite songs of 2004, most of which I probably don't even own hard copies of. That's just a favorite song each from a bunch of albums I copped last year, and not all necessarily my favorite albums, since a lot of those are the one song I like from otherwise weak albums (like the Watt and the Cee-Lo). I feel kinda lame for segregating genres for the 2 sides of the tape, but I have no illusions about the fact that my album purchases are pretty evenly split between indie rock and mainstream rap (actually, it's been like that with me for a long time, since at least the late 90's), so it makes sense to give each its own side. With the hip hop side especially I made a point to avoid singles and features and go for just straight album tracks that I liked, and I noticed that a lot of my favorite songs are moody, topical midtempo songs. With some songs with children singing added for good measure. And on the rock side I seemed to pick the more rocking, rambling, jammy songs from each album, especially with the first few selections. I think those patterns say more about my mood lately than my taste over the course of the entire year, though. But I don't really know what it says anyway.

Labels: Baltimore music, hip hop, mixtapes, Nels Cline, Sonic Youth, Spymob, Ted Leo, The Posies, Travis Morrison

Making these lists is always weird for me. I remember in high school I was way more hyped about it, maybe because I was just younger and less self conscious about my taste than I am now. It seems like I've dreaded the listmaking time of year ever since 2000, the year that I briefly worked for Pitchfork. I was real broke that year and didn't buy many albums at all, and they wanted a top 20 albums list from everyone (they didn't have the singles poll yet), and I don't think I even had 10, which was one of the reasons I was more relieved than anything else when they fired me shortly before doing the year-end poll. And this year they asked for a top 50 from their staff! Holy shit! I mean, I'm sure if I downloaded constantly or had a steady stream of promos being mailed to me or made more than $7/hr, I'd have a lot more albums to put on my list. But as it stands, I heard less than 30 albums this year, and more than half of them were by artists that I'm loyal to and bought in good faith and was disappointed by (including, to some degree, some of the artists in the top 10). I just happened to digest music in a lot of different ways this year, through radio, through mixtapes, especially writing for Government Names (though I did manage to cough up my top 10 hip hop albums for the GN poll). But I still do listen to albums all the time and I'm a big nerd about the sanctity of the album form (I never skip tracks, etc.) And this year did have some albums I really enjoyed. So without further ado, here's the 10:

1. Kanye West - The College Dropout

I feel a little corny putting this at the top, because it's kind of become this year's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, the token hip hop album that people who aren't really up on it rally around, while a lot of people whose opinions I respect have hated on it, or have chosen to damn it with faint praise, slipping it in the lower half of their lists or not at all. But fuck it, I love this shit. In 2003 Kanye went from being one of my favorite producers to becoming one of my favorite MCs too. I collected every single mixtape he dropped, every track that leaked, following every release date delay, knowing that with Roc-A-Fella's release schedule it might never come out at all. I figured that if it ever did drop, it would get some nice reviews and sell modestly, like all super producer pet projects. As much faith as I had in Kanye, I didn't expect multi-platinum sales and hit after hit single and 10 Grammy nominations. It's not a perfect album (I tend to find reasons to leave the room during the block of three (three!) skits surrounding "School Spirit), but there's far more good than bad or played out. He did it. And I was there first, and I've got bragging rights, so fuck you, he earned his spot at the top.

2. Spymob - Sitting Around Keeping Score

Spymob got screwed. Most people have only heard of them because of N.E.R.D., and they were mainly resented for their role in the inferior 'live' version of In Search Of. Then they kept getting mislabelled as "funk metal" or whatever because of that and the unrepresentative song on the Clones comp. And, like all Neptunes-affiliated artists, label troubles hounded Spymob, to the point that this album (which was recorded mostly before they even met Pharrell) kept getting delayed until long after any residual interest in them from N.E.R.D. had dried up, and the album was finally released in April of this year, quietly, 3 years after it was recorded, and not on Star Trak (although, oddly enough, on another rap label, Ruthless Records). But it's hands down the best rock albums I heard this year. Alt-rock records with a total absence of any resemblence to indie rock tend to do one of 2 things these days: either get some VH1 exposure and sell a ton like Maroon 5, or go absolutely nowhere, like Spymob. The most flattering comparison that's popped up in most reviews has been Steely Dan, and while that's maybe too kind and a little misleading, it does a good way toward understanding their appeal. There's an element of perverse humor here, like "It Gets Me Going", which is written from the perspective of a dog, but there's also "National Holidays", which is the catchiest and most touching song I've ever heard about child custody battles. I really can't reccomend this album enough to people who aren't too cool for it.

3. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Shake The Sheets

Ted Leo is the kind of singer/songwriter whose essentially meat-and-potatoes punk and rock is informed by a diverse enough set of influences that it seems like he's in constant danger of the inevitable slide into either dreaded 'maturity' or hopelessly indulgent experimentation, determinded to make his own Sandanista. But, knock on wood, that hasn't happened yet, and instead he continues to deliver his 3rd solid rock album in a row, and it's the most no-frills and straight-ahead yet, stripping away the touches of keyboard and violin from the last one and narrowing his pallette down to just the core power trio, which his biggest recording budget yet for the wonderful hi-fi sound that Hearts of Oak's songs deserved instead of that horrible fuzz bass and weak drum sound. By comparison, this record stomps, especially on "Little Dawn", which begins with a spiraling guitar figure that reminds me of AC/DC's "Thunderstruck", and builds to a glorious crescendo before winding down with Ted repeating the hypnotic mantra of "it's alright" 151 times (I counted). The first 5 songs are maybe his best run since the first 5 songs on The Tyranny of Distance (he has a tendency to frontload his records with the good stuff), but "Walking To Do", ends the record beautifull with some perfectly executed a-little-bit-softer-now, a-little-bit-louder-now dynamics.

4. Trick Daddy - Thug Matrimony: Married To The Streets

Daddy Dollars has always had a gruff papa bear voice, and he's been running it long enough now to be an elder statesman of the new South. But he doesn't just sit back and collect features and follow the new style. There's some crunk, yeah, but there's also his classic mix of bass, sex jams, and tough guy songs, along with a block of songs to reaffirm that Trick luvs the kids, especially the wonderful "I Just Wanna Sang". Six albums deep and he's still deeper than anyone in the deep South.

5. Sonic Youth - Sonic Nurse

I'm a bigger fan of SY's output over the last 10 years than most, but after the nadir of NYC Ghosts & Flowers, even I was caught off guard by the low key grace of Murray Street, after which the almost as good Nurse feels a little anticlimactic. Steve Shelley is about as slept on as a member of such a canonical band can be, and he's the biggest reason that the ever mellowing tempos of the aging Youth aren't a bummer. He may not pummel the toms like he did on Sister or bring thunderous fills like on Dirty, but he's got a way with those relaxed midtempo grooves that just kills me. Much has been made of Kim doing something other than screeching or mumbling nursery rhymes for the first time in too long (although there's still the Mariah screed, which is slightly less annoying than the Britney screed from the last album, but still essentially just a sluggish version of Dirty-era Kim jams). But as far as I'm concerned, it's all about Thurston's creaky hippie vox (although I can do without some of the "electric guitar strings buuuuury flowers" lyrics) and long instrumental midsections. I'm very happy with the fact that "Wildflower Soul" seems to be the blueprint for most of his songs on the past couple albums. I really do want Sonic Youth to keep making albums like this of varying quality for as long as they're physically capable, and there aren't many artists I can say that of.

6. Travis Morrison - Travistan

Pitchfork shat on Travistan from atop the same perch from which they once praised the Dismemberment Plan to the heavens, and the backlash followed elsewhere without much opposition. Albums like this don't have fans, they have apologists, but I'm more than happy to be in that camp. I kind of have to forget my sentimental attachment to the Plan (and ignore how much better the Plan versions of "Angry Angel" and "Change" were) to really enjoy this, but it's far from the disaster it's often cast as. Breaking with the D.C. indie/punk tradition of strident politics and sloganeering, Travis uses and humor and warmth while taking shots at white male privelege ("Born In '72") and the liberal impulse (the amazing "Che Guevara Poster") while everyone else spent the past year firing off witless "fuck Bush" tirades (all respect due to Ted Leo, who made a better record with political commentary, but all I hear when I listen to him is the hooks and riffs and vocabulary-enhancing lyrics, whereas Travis is doing something much more interesting than preaching to the converted). It's just a shame that he didn't package some of the best lyrics of his career in an appealing spazz-dance-punk package to make the kids listen.

7. Beauty Pill - The Unsustainable Lifestyle

Like Travis, Chad Clark is the ex-frontman of a 'weird' 90's D.C. post-punk band (Smart Went Crazy) who's moved onto something gentler, if not kinder. His increasingly delicate, homespun production style and naggingly memorable melodies are wrapped around maybe his most barbed lyrics and jaundiced worldview yet. And while the languid tunage is more appealing than some of Travistan's downright awkward attempts at similiar terrain, Travis's lyrics have a sense of purpose and viewpoint that gets lost in some of Clark's cheap gags and cheaper cynicism. But when he gets properly fired up, talking about Mark David Chapman or "those countries where they come up and starve right in your face", his black humor becomes black anger and Beauty Pill's pastoral tones become much more compelling. At first the album registered as a disappointment, but I don't think there's any other album I reached for more often late at night throughout the year.

8. Nas - Street's Disciple

Complaints about how it's not Illmatic or it could've been better as a single album are wasted breath. If you're listening to a new Nas album, you have to be up for all of it, the less than ideal beats, the weird pretentious song concepts, the gross sex talk. So if you can deal with that, you'll get a huge, comprehensive statement from one of the most opinionated, hypocritical, greatest motherfuckers of all time. God's Son did a lot of the same things, but the sheer bulk of this gives it more force. There's a bunch of songs for his wifey, a bunch of songs for his family, a bunch of songs dissing other rappers and the industry, a bunch of songs paying tribute to the old school, hitting everything he wants to talk about from multiple angles. And like Trick Daddy or Jadakiss, Nas's voice gets better every year, thickening and deepening into a grandpa voice to match all his "back in my day" rants.

9. Cam'ron - Purple Haze

I loved last year's Diplomatic Immunity, which was an absurd statement of epic proportions from Cam's crew, and as Cam's next album continued to be delayed for over a year, my passion for it slowly dwindled, figuring that all the best tracks were the ones that had already leaked to mixtapes ages ago. But then, a couple weeks ago, it finally dropped, and I was blown away with how consistent it is. Label complications and bad single choices will probably stop it from being the peak it was hyped up to be, but the album itself is fire.

10. The Nels Cline Singers - The Giant Pin

Nels Cline's stock as a hired gun may have shot up this year with his drafting into Wilco, but he's not one to build his sideman resume at the expense of chasing his own muse. So 2004 saw yet another windfall of his own projects as a composer, collaborator and improviser, chief among them the 2nd album from his latest stable touring unit, the Nels Cline Singer. While I still carry a torch for the original 90's incarnation fo the Nels Cline Trio and have been slow to warm to the Singers, this album gradually won me over with a cohesive collection of lovely ballads and effects-pedal-crazy noise workouts.

Labels: hip hop, lists, Nels Cline, Sonic Youth, Spymob, Ted Leo, Travis Morrison

My 15 Favorite Albums In The Nels Cline Discography (well, not all necessarily most favorite but what I think is his best work)

1. The Nels Cline Trio - Ground (Krown Pocket)
2. Mike Watt - Contemplating the Engine Room (Columbia)
3. Thurston Moore & Nels Cline - In-Store (W.D.T.C.H.C./Father Yod)
4. Destroy All Nels Cline - Destroy All Nels Cline (Atavistic)
5. Scarnella - Scarnella (Smells Like Records)
6. Nels Cline / Gregg Bendian - Interstellar Space Revisited: The Music of John Coltrane (Atavistic)
7. Nels Cline - The Inkling (Cryptogramophone)
8. Carla Bozulich - Red Headed Stranger (DiCristina Star Builders)
9. The Geraldine Fibbers - Butch (Virgin)
10. Nels Cline / Andrea Parkins / Tom Rainey - Out Trios Volume 3: Ash and Tabula (Atavistic)
11. Mike Watt - Ball-Hog or Tugboat? (Columbia)
12. The Nels Cline Singers - The Giant Pin (Cryptogramophone)
13. Gregg Bendian's Interzone - Myriad (Atavistic)
14. The Nels Cline Trio - Sad (Little Brother)
15. Nels Cline & Devin Sarno - Buried On Bunker Hill (Ground Fault)

Labels: lists, Mike Watt, Nels Cline, Sonic Youth

I don't have many guitar heroes (mostly with me it's songwriter heroes and drummer heroes and producer heroes), but if there's any living guitarist I worship, it's Nels Cline. I first got hooked on him in the mid 90's when he was running with Mike Watt and the Geraldine Fibbers and Sonic Youth, and have followed him through countless more obscure projects, but this year has been an interesting one, with him joining Wilco a few months ago. All About Jazz recently ran a biiiig feature on Nels that covers the Wilco situation pretty well, among other things. Their latest album was recorded before he joined, so he's only been touring with them so far, but there've been implications that he's more than just a touring guitarist, and the first Wilco song with Nels in the lineup was recently released on the Spongebob Squarepants OST (which has got to be the weirdest entry in the lengthy Nels Cline discography since...well, that Blue Man Group album he played on). I've never really been into Wilco (I think I listened to Summer Teeth a couple times and even as an oversensitive teenager dismissed it as a lyrical pity party), and I dunno if his involvement would motivate me to check out their next album, but I am glad he's finally got a gig that will pay his bills and probably help him bankroll his next round of projects. I don't know if it will give his own work a lot of exposure, though. His own brand of noise and improv is not too far removed from jazz, and is pretty out of step with the Wolf Eyes school of noise that gets hype these days.

What I'm excited about, though, is that he's still got plenty of his own stuff as a bandleader and a collaborator coming down the pike while he's on the road with Wilco. He's always got a steady stream of releases, probably about half a dozen a year, but just in the past month alone, 3 albums he plays on have come out, 2 of which I've snapped up already and may be fighting it out for a spot or two on my year-end top ten. His current touring trio the Nels Cline Singers just released their 2nd album, The Giant Pin, which is an improvement on the first album, Instrumentals (which was no doubt titled to clear up any confusion about the tongue-in-cheek Singers name). Still, I don't know if I'm feeling the Singers as much as his '90's trio, the Nels Cline Trio, or some of the one-off projects he's done in the past few years like Destroy All Nels Cline and The Inkling. The Singers do have good chemestry, though, and they were good the one time I saw them live. But like most Nels projects, they very rarely make it out to the east coast, touring mainly in and around his native California.

The other one I copped recently is Volume 3 in Atavistic's "Out Trios" series, Ash and Tabula by Nels Cline/Andrea Parkins/Tom Rainey. I'm not generally as interested in Nels's improv collaborations as I am with his stuff as a bandleader or writer, but I made a point to pick this one up because I wanted to hear more of Andrea Parkins, who was the highlight of the show I saw a couple months ago on the last night of the High Zero Festival Of Experimental Improvised Music here in Baltimore. She plays an electronically-processed accordian, which she gets some wild and not at all accordian-like sounds out of (her cousin is Zeena Parkins, who plays an electric harp and has also collaborated with Nels). So her and Nels together with a drummer is a pretty shit-hot combination, and sometimes they lock together in ways that are pretty impressive for a record that was "spontaneously composed".

Labels: Mike Watt, Nels Cline