It’s time once again to take stock of the year gone by. Here’s a look at the albums, singles and concerts that, much to my delight, got my attention and wouldn’t let go –plus a few listening experiences I wish I could forget.
Albums
1. Janelle Monae, The ArchAndroid [Bad Boy]
The concept may be over the top – an android is sent back in time from the future to fight oppression (or something like that) – but the music is undeniable, surveying hard funk, glam rock, synth pop, hip hop, bebop, R&B, lounge jazz and even classical. It's one of the year’s most wildly ambitious albums, and thanks to Monae’s confident delivery of her complex vision, it’s also the most accomplished.
2. Afrocubism, Afrocubism [Nonesuch]
Fourteen years after Buena Vista Social Club became a landmark world music release, the original intention of those sessions – bringing together great Cuban musicians, such as guitarist/vocalist Eliades Ochoa with Malian masters Bassekou Kouyate (ngoni), Djelimady Tounkara (guitar) and Toumani Diabate (kora), among others, has been realized. Buena Vista’s American ambassador, Ry Cooder, is missing here, but the album still lives up to the project’s original promise.
3. Neil Young, Le Noise [Reprise]
Thanks to producer Daniel Lanois, this solo guitar-and-vocal effort, whose style Neil Young termed “folk-metal,” is one of the most sonically adventurous of his career. Lyrically, it’s strikingly intimate and revealing as Young sings about love, war, and details of his journey in life and music.
4. Grinderman, Grinderman 2 [Anti-]
No one in rock scares me – in a good way, that is – like Nick Cave. He’s made some of the most unsettling – no, strike that – feral music of the past decade, and I love it.
5. LCD Soundsystem, This Is Happening [DFA/Virgin]
I’ve obviously passed out of the key demographic age for dance music, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still a part of my regular listening regimen. Because LCD Soundsystem auteur James Murphy delivers the grooves, but adds lyrics that are usually hilarious and often quite heartfelt, he’s a particular favorite of mine.
6. Beach House, Teen Dream [Sub Pop]
If this year produced an album of shimmering, gossamer pop music more gorgeous than Teen Dream, I’ve yet to hear it. The songs of Baltimore duo of Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand bring on a giddy, euphoric state, but I’m strangely drawn to the woozy, almost nausea-inducing sections of “Norway” that sound like a slightly warped record on the turntable.
7. The Roots, How I Got Over [Def Jam]
Already an astoundingly versatile act, the Roots’ steady gig as house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has expanded its frame of reference, leading to a mix of hip-hop and alt-rock on How I Got Over. Guests include Jim James, Joanna Newsom and the Dirty Projectors. Not to worry, though: the spotlight is still on Black Thought’s razor-sharp rhymes and ?uestlove’s funky drumming.
8. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More [Glass Note]
The Grammy noms for Best New Artist and Best Rock Song (“Little Lion Man”) are justified. The British folk-rock band’s harmonies are entrancing, but the pounding rhythms that drive their songs will snap you out of your reverie pretty quickly. This is folk music you can mosh to.
9. Jamey Johnson, The Guitar Song [Mercury Nashville]
Jamey Johnson looks like a biker or maybe a pro wrestler – which is appropriate, because he is in fact a latter-day Outlaw, in the mold of Willie and Waylon and the boys. His 25-song double album is chock full of songs about life in the real world. It’s on a major label, yeah, but this set’s very existence is an indictment of Nashville’s fantasy factory.
10. Robert Plant, Band of Joy [Rounder]
Not as arresting as Raising Sand, his classic collaboration with Alison Krauss, but Band of Joy, which matches rock’s Golden God with alt-country angels Buddy Miller and Patty Griffin is still sublime, drawing on songs from sources as disparate as Los Lobos (“Angel Dance”) to slowcore stalwart Low (“Silver Rider,” “Monkey”).
Honorable mention: The Arcade Fire, The Suburbs [Merge]; The Black Keys, Brothers [Nonesuch]; The Budos Band, The Budos Band III [Daptone]; Carolina Chocolate Drops, Genuine Negro Jig [Nonesuch]; Elizabeth Cook, Welder [31 Tigers]; Frightened Rabbit, The Winter of Mixed Drinks [Fat Cat]; Tom Jones, Praise & Blame [Mercury Nashville]; Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, I Speak Fula [Next Ambience]; Jim Lauderdale, Patchwork River [Emergent/92E]; The National, High Violet [4AD]; Robyn, Body Talk [Cherry Tree]; Bruce Springsteen, The Promise[Columbia]; Mavis Staples, You Are Not Alone [Anti-]; Ali Farka Toure & Toumani Diabate, Ali & Toumani[Nonesuch]; Trombone Shorty, Backatown [Verve Forecast].
Worst:
Santana, Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time [Arista]
That sound you hear is the bottom of the Supernatural barrel being scraped.
Best Local:
Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three, Riverboat Soul [Free Dirt]
Thanks to a star-making turn at the Newport Folk Festival and critical praise from all over, LaFarge can't really be said to be a local act anymore. But he's such an advocate for St. Louis' rich musical history and for the city itself, that we'll always be able to claim him. And believe me, we're going to want to.
Singles
1. Shamantis, “J. Biebz - U Smile 800% Slower”
The best song Sigur Ros never recorded.
2. Janelle Monae featuring Big Boi, “Tightrope”
3. Cee Lo Green, “Fuck You”
4. Robyn, “Dancing on My Own”
5. Best Coast, “Boyfriend”
6. Sade, “Soldier of Love”
7. The Black Keys, “Tighten Up”
8. Mavis Staples, “You Are Not Alone”
9. Broken Bells, “The High Road”
10. Hanson, “Thinkin’ ‘Bout Something”
Honorable mention: Frightened Rabbit, “Swim Until You Can’t See Land”; Gorillaz, featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack, “Stylo”; LCD Soundsystem, “Dance Yrself Clean”; Mumford & Sons, “Little Lion Man”; Sleigh Bells, “Tell ‘Em.”
Concerts
1. Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, April 7, Touhill PAC
2. Jonsi, November 2, The Pageant
3. Loufest, August 28-29, Forest Park
4. Mumford & Sons, June 15, Off Broadway
5. Jeff Beck, April 29, Fox Theater
6. Mary J. Blige(Lilith), July 16, Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
7. Carolina Chocolate Drops, February 26, St. Louis Art Museum
8. Lyle Lovett, August 1, The Sheldon
9. Frightened Rabbit, May 7, Old Rock House
10. Carole King/James Taylor, July 10, Scottrade Center
Honorable mention:
David Sanborn, Jazz at the Bistro, August 17; Todd Rundgren, September 10, Roberts Orpheum Theater; Lucero, December 7, Off Broadway; John McLaughlin, November 19, The Sheldon; Steve Martin & the Steep Canyon Rangers, April 23, Roberts Orpheum Theater
Worst: Hole, July 13, The Pageant
Fans came expecting a train wreck, but what they got was something worse: a boring train wreck. Love showed up late and blathered about playing all night. In the end, she was only onstage for about 50 minutes, which was far too long.
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