February 5, 2010 Playlist

The Best of 2000-2009
 
"Drum's Not Dead" by Liars (2006)
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Liars  "Drum's Not Dead"  2006 (USA)
The monthly special for February looks back on the decade just past, and in my opinion the single best year for releases during that time may have been 2006 -- Scott Walker came out of seclusion to release The Drift, which is the best album he's ever made and also gets my vote as the best album of the entire decade.  But close runners up for best of the decade would be two Liars albums, including this week's selection from the same year.  Liars began as a "neo no wave" band in Brooklyn at the beginning of the decade, but by the time of their second album (They Were Wrong So We Drowned) their music became a sonic adventure that's hard to describe.  This, their third album, was yet another radical departure -- the album revolves around a highly abstract but emotional conflict between two characters called Drum and Mt. Heart Attack, which seem to represent some sort of metaphor along the lines of "drum=vitality=life / heart attack=anxiety=death".   But perhaps more important and original is the way the music is organized -- the drums truly are the lead intstrument on this record, playing the melodies and telling the stories, while the vocals and guitars recede into the background like so much ambience.  Unfortunately their most recent album from 2007 was a bit of a reversion to the relatively straight souped-up indie rock of their earliest days, but who knows what they'll do next?
Here's the music video for the lovely melodic song that ends this album: "The Other Side Of Mt. Heart Attack". And here's a weird one from the Drowned album, "There's Always Room On The Broom".  Their most recent album was simply called Liars from 2007, and includes the creepy song "Plaster Casts of Everything".  Finally here's the original line-up playing a classic rocker from their "no wave" debut album"Mr. You're On Fire Mr.".
 
(N) = New Release
   
Artist Song Album Year (label) Country
Kraftwerk Aerodynamik / Titanium Tour de France Soundtracks 2003 Germany
Mission Of Burma Donna Sumeria The Obliterati 2006 USA
Scott Walker Cossacks Are The Drift 2006 UK/USA
Liars Be Quiet Mt. Heart Attack! Drum's Not Dead
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
2006 USA
Liars Let's Not Wrestle Mt. Heart Attack Drum's Not Dead
CLASSIC ALBUM OF THE WEEK
2006 USA
 
 
Me'shell Ndegeocello The Sloganeer (Paradise) The World Has Made Me The Man Of My Dreams 2007 USA
Stereolab Hallucinex Sound-Dust 2002 UK/France
Black Moth Super Rainbow Sun Lips Dandelion Gum 2007 USA
The Fiery Furnaces Navy Nurse Widow City 2007 USA
eX-Girl Dodo Endangered Species 2004 Japan
   
 
Sleater-Kinney Rollercoaster The Woods 2005 USA
Dungen Bortglömd Ta Det Lungt 2004 Sweden
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks Baltimore Real Emotional Trash 2008 USA
Meat Puppets Blanket Of Weeds Sewn Together (N) 2009 (Megaforce) USA
   
 
DMBQ Nothing The Essential Sounds From The Far East 2005 Japan
Melvins Foaming Hostile Ambient Takeover 2002 USA
Madvillain (MF Doom & Madlib) Rainbows Madvillainy 2004 USA
MF Doom One Beer MM.. Food 2004 USA
Quasimoto (Madlib) Return Of The Loop Digga The Unseen 2000 USA
William Shatner (with Joe Jackson) Common People (Pulp) Has Been 2004 Canada
Bobby Conn Home Sweet Home The Homeland 2004 USA
 
 
Earthling Society Wromg! Tears Of Andromeda: Black Sails Against The Sky 2007 UK
MV & EE Wandering Nomad Barn Nova (N) 2009 (Ecstatic Peace!) USA
Boris & Michio Kurihara Rainbow Rainbow 2007 Japan
Sonic Youth Peace Attack Sonic Nurse 2004 USA
 
  
Davenport Thou Shall Be Waking Free Country 2005 USA
Califone Trout Silk Roomsound 2001 USA
Neil Young & Crazy Horse Leave The Driving Greendale 2003 Canada/USA
Sun Araw Horse Steppin' Beach Head 2008 USA
             
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