Go forth, young sailor and capture that unrelenting isle of great fortune and sweet meats...
Phantom Planet - Phantom Planet
Yes, it is indeed those guys who wrote The OC theme song. But wait--a few years before Josh Schwartz decided to create a show about privileged sexy teens (played by actors in their 20s) in California (he took a gamble on the setting, yes), the theme song was an actual song by Phantom Planet called, of all things, "California," which can be found on their 2002 album The Guest.
Yes, this is indeed the band that Jason Schwartzman was originally the drummer for. Schwartzman departed after The Guest and the ensuing releases from the band were actually much stronger. Follow up albums Phantom Planet and Raise The Dead still stay true to the band's pop-rock roots and are easily digestible, but explore slightly darker territory than the Beach Boys influenced work on The Guest.
2004's self-titled album is one that I can undoubtedly say is listenable from start to finish. Never have I skipped a track while listening to Phantom Planet and I dare you to find an unlistenable song on the album. In fact, if you are so bold as to challenge my assertion, we will settle things with a brutish X-arm battle. Really though, come on, admit it, you cannot possibly dislike this album. It is brimming with hooks-a-plenty that suck you in, like a high powered Hoover vacuum cleaner on the bumpy carpeting in your parents' living room (good job Dad). There is an ambient dream-pop element on tracks like "Knowitall" and "After Hours" with subtle drum machine backing, dreamy tremolo guitar work, and gentle keyboard lines. As well, one cannot deny the band's command of melody, as numerous tracks have impressive three-part harmonies.
Be honest, you like this album. There is no shame in admitting so. Even if The OC is a guilty pleasure, there is no reason why this album should be. It is simply a pleasure (simple pleasures? ha. no.) Just admit it.
DD/MM/YYYY - Black Square
If any of you (assuming there is more than one of you) have read this here blog of varying quality and hypocrisy over the past year, this album's appearance on the list should not surprise you. I suppose it is my Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains of 2009. Not to compare and contrast the two albums (as they are so vastly different it would be unfair to do so), but Black Square had a lot more riding on it. This is the album that single-handedly saved 2009 from being a complete musical write-off. If I was to concoct a list of the best albums of 2009 it would not be a list at all, rather a single line: Black Square.
Generally I believe in the platitude that art should be separate from the artist. I would prefer not to know much about an artist's personal life, as it affects my enjoyment and interpretation of their work. However, over the course of the past year I have become somewhat familiar with the members of DD/MM/YYYY—If you are at all involved in the Toronto music scene it is difficult not to be. Having said that, this familiarity has, if anything, made me appreciate their work even more. The members of DD/MM/YYYY live in near-squalor yet have toured North America and Europe and are a household name in independent art rock circles. I believe it is from this near-squalor and truly independent spirit that the band can create such earnest and passionate art. On top of how earnest and passionate the music is, it is also unlike anything else out there: complicated time signatures, double synthesizer madness, acid jazz guitar riffs, complex mind-bending lyrics, and, um, some bass.
Compared to past releases, Black Square is the band's most coherent effort. The strongest tracks that bookend the album (tracks 1-4 and 10-12) are perhaps some of the greatest musical compositions to have graced mine ears, methinks. However, the albums does lose some ground in the middle with a series of instrumental and drone-noise numbers. Regardless, it is a fantastic album from a band that deserves your unwavering support. Go buy it, now.
Brand New - Deja Entendu
Fuck it. I am fully going back on my word. This album changed everything for me. Perhaps at the core, what each track on Deja Entendu is really about is trivial in retrospect. Perhaps comparing a failing relationship to a shipwreck is a tad over the top. Perhaps song titles that are essays in themselves is a little cliche. Perhaps not everything has to be a simile or metaphor, that it is acceptable on occasion to simply state what it is you are referring to. Regardless, Jesse Lacey makes every word count. Despite the fact that most songs on Deja are about some girl whom he probably couldn't care less about today, Jesse's analogies and phrasing are beautiful.
The lyrics on this album are proof that it's not what you say, it's how you say it. Who cares what these songs are actually about. They capture a whirlwind of emotion both lyrically and musically. Yes, there is a formula that was developed on this album, the quiet beginning that leads to a culminating crescendo chorus of an ending (as demonstrated on "Okay I beleive you but my tommy gun don't," "Jaws Theme Swimming," "The Boy Who Blocked His Own Shot," "Me vs. Maradonna vs. Elvis," and "Good to know if I ever need attention all I have to do is die"), but it is used to such great effect. Furthermore, this is an album in every sense of the word. It opens with the slow-building "mini" song "Tautou" that transitions wonderfully to the punchy drum and bass intro of "Sic Transit Gloria (Glory Fades)." The fact that each song transitions to the next seamlessly suggests Lacey's role as not just a songwriter, but a musical auteur. Closing track "Play Crack The Sky" is undoubtedly the best possible closer to an album of emotional highs and lows. Sure, an adolescent romance is not anywhere close to a shipwreck, and it is laughable to suggest such a comparison in everyday conversation, but goddamn is "Play Crack The Sky" ever a well-written song. Moreover, as I said in regards to Taking Back Sunday, just because one does not feel those emotional extremes anymore in his or her post-adolescent age, it does not make them any less legitimate nor should they be written off entirely. Lacey may have written about retrospectively trivial matters, but at the time they meant everything to him and he waxed poetic about them in a manner that very few can.
This is the first album that really forced me to focus on lyrics and the power of the written word. This is the first album with lyrics that literally made me cry. This is the first album that I would defend with my life against dickweeds who called it "emo," attempting to group it with other adolescent garbage. I rarely listen to Deja Entendu anymore. I suppose I am afraid to. I am afraid that I won't feel as strongly connected to it now as I did 6 years ago. I am afraid that with the loss of that connection I will lose a part of myself.
Well, fear not. I listened to it. It is still one of my favourite albums ever.
