After a six-year gap between its last two albums (Humanz was released last year), Gorillaz is on the heels of The Now Now, the band’s sixth studio album, which will be released on June 29. Why such a quick turnaround? Well, for all intents and purposes, it seems like Damon Albarn, Blur frontman and Gorillaz lead, feels like he is getting old, and he might as well release as much as he can without waiting another seven years like the last album gap. Seems reasonable enough.
What is not aging is the music. Gorillaz is one of those rare bands that continues findings itself on the cutting edge of music. “Fire Flies,” one of the tracks off the new album, is no exception.
My favorite Gorillaz track in a while, “Fire Flies” takes on a Demon Days feel with its sultry darkness, fit with heavy bass, dreamy synth, and excellent vocal. The persistent rhythm is produced with classic Gorillaz flair, a euphonious concoction of melody. It’s just a tremendous track, continued proof that Gorillaz will keep popping out excellent tunes for as long as they decide to proceed as a group.
One of the ineluctable truths of having a music blog for so long is that you end up writing multiple posts about the same artist/band. This is not a negative, as this inevitability depicts the blogger’s music taste. So, it should come to no surprise to avid readers of The Music Court that the two artists whose new tracks are euphoniously blaring on repeat from my small, but surprisingly loud, portable speaker are The Mountain Goats and Bleachers. Both of these bands have found laudatory homes on this blog before, and this post will be no exception to that status.
The Mountain Goats own Indie Rock. For more than two decades and now 16 studio albums, John Darnielle, the lyrical demigod and two-time author, and his band continue to shape and define quality Indie music, doing it better than any other artist over a longer period of time. It is their success that somewhat shapes their new release, Goths, which will be released on Merge records in May. The album, which features no guitars, pays tribute to bands who did not persist, whose tunes faded away. To promote and preview the album, the band released a track, “Andrew Eldritch Is Moving Back to Leeds,” and since its release in late February, I have listened to it more than a few times.
Above is a recent performance by John Darnielle of the track – with guitar although it is not used on the album. Andrew Eldritch is known by some as the Godfather of Goth; he is frontman for Gothic Rock band The Sisters of Mercy. Eldritch himself is a skilled lyricist, often making lyrical references in his pieces. Darnielle plays upon the melancholic (somewhat gothic) reality of time. The song begins set in a venue where we can suppose Eldritch is playing and the goers experience the “faint gust of hope” as they “meet up against” to “remember how it was” back in the day. The song continues with the motif of Eldritch moving back home without “parade” and “no big changes in the roadways.” It is a Darnielle special, a lugubriously realistic portrayal of how little changes, a keen, singular depiction of time transforming little but memories and age, all set to the tune of Darnielle’s creative rhythm.
Jack Antonoff is quickly cementing himself as the pop/rock king of modern music. The multi-instrumentalist creator of Bleachers, Antonoff cut his teeth with Steel Train and Fun. His second LP, Gone Now, will be released on June 2, coming off the heels of his first LP Strange Desire, which featured the huge hits “I Wanna Get Better” and “Rollercoaster.” His first single off of the new album, “Don’t Take the Money” (which features Lorde) is a quintessential example of Antonoff’s pop talent. The song is an earworm to the extreme, and it should come with a disclaimer: if you press play below you will listen to this song again and again and again.
So, what makes the song and Antonoff so good. It is the perfect, multifaceted blend of 80s music influences and the modern blend of wall-of-sound pop. The song features an immediate hook fit with reverbed synth and drums. It transitions into an echoed pre-chorus that drops to Antonoff’s far-off voice immediately falling into a pounding, blindingly catchy chorus that is almost unfair in its skill. It’s the time of chorus that makes the listener just go “yes, that is exactly what I have been waiting for.” I have blasted this song in my car on multiple occasions because of that chorus. Antonoff is utilizing so many musical influences to transform pop/rock. I, for one, am extremely pleased. The genre is in good hands.
I started this blog back in college as a conduit for my musomania. It continues to live, albeit somewhat infrequently on my end – continued thanks to Toria whose posts truly carry the blog, and I anticipate the blog existing in whatever shape and form continually. I hope the content continues to be fresh and original, no matter its frequency, and that you get as much enjoyment reading as I do writing.
That said, in all of my years writing for the blog, I never (at least to my knowledge) comprehensively brought politics or current events (outside of music) onto these pages. This was, and still is, purely intentional; this is a music blog through and through, and I want to keep it that way. That said, I would be averse not to mention the current transformations in the U.S., and the vitriolic reactions on both sides of the coin responding to these changes. I will not use this blog as a platform to lecture on my political beliefs, but I will say I do maintain a shaken temperament as a witness to these changes. Instead, I will do what I always promised to do on this blog, and use music to convey my thoughts.
Bob Dylan’s “When The Ship Comes In” appeared on his third studio album, the politically charged The Times They Are A-Changin’, which Dylan released in 1964, buttressing his participation in the civil rights movement of the time. Yes, Dylan’s clear protest song on the album, the eponymous title track, may be more apropros for this post, but the third track on Side 2, “When the Ship Comes In” always held deeper significance for me, although the song was, according to Dylan’s biographer Clinton Heylin and musician Joan Baez, about how a hotel clerk refused Dylan admission to a hotel room because of his unkempt appearance. Dylan, who modeled the song after “Pirate Jenny”from Brecht and Weill’s Threepenny Opera (a big inspiration for The Doors as well), wrote about how he envisaged his enemies, “like Goliath” conquered.
For me, though, the song always held some added metaphorical significance, the “foes” representing the forces of jacobin injustice and antiquated policy. The ship, who are pirates in Brecht’s lyric, are more benevolent conquerers in Dylan’s piece, as the fishes “laugh”, seagulls “smile”, and rocks “proudly stand” when “the ship comes in”. Heck, even the “sun” respects those on the ship, indicating that the most essential forces of nature shine upon this ship – a bit prescient considering our current situation. The ship comes in on a song, and then Dylan finishes the piece with two potent verses, which I will copy below:
Oh the foes will rise With the sleep in their eyes And they’ll jerk from their beds and think they’re dreamin’ But they’ll pinch themselves and squeal And know that it’s for real The hour that the ship comes in.
Then they’ll raise their hands Sayin’ we’ll meet all your demands But we’ll shout from the bow your days are numbered And like Pharaoh’s tribe They’ll be drownded in the tide And like Goliath, they’ll be conquered.
The ship finds the foes sleeping and in a soporific stupor, and despite the foes’ attempted rapprochement, they are “drownded in the tide” and conquered. That they are sleeping is fascinating, as it was Socrates (through Plato) who evinced that society needs a gadfly to pester it when it falls into a somnific and obstinate state so society will wake up and notice that the times are changing. When I look out to the horizon I can hear the slightest melody as it lingers in the ocean waiting once again for the sands to “roll out a carpet of gold” because the “whole wide world is watchin'” and waiting for the hour that the ship comes in.
Seattle is hotbed of musical talent, The Head and the Heart is just another success story from the Emerald Story. That said, The Head and the Heart do not all originate from Seattle; instead, many of the band’s members are Seattle transplants who found a home performing at a local open mic. The band quickly took off from there, and have come a long way from selling handmade denim sleeves of self-burned copies of its first album at local shows. Now, the band has toured extensively with several Indie outlets like Vampire Weekend, Iron & Wine, and Death Cab for Cutie. The year 2016 saw the release of the band’s third LP Signs of Light and the title track is the #3 song of 2016.
It is no surprise that “All We Ever Knew” found immediate alt/rock chart success. It’s anthemic, featuring strong percussion, jubilant vocal harmonies, diverse keys, and a string-laden bridge. The song features the same melodic structure, but it transforms several times with instrumental and rhythm. It is the upper echelon of alt/rock and representative of a band at the top of its game.
#2: “Genghis Khan” by Miike Snow
“Genghis Khan” by Swedish Indie Pop trio Miike Snow was officially released as a single in December of 2015, but found its way on the band’s third studio album, iii, which was released in March of this year. Thus, the #2 song of 2016 is the aforementioned “Genghis Khan,” and if not for an impassioned release from Radiohead, the song would be #1
Miike Snow, a three piece made up of a duo of childhood friends who became consummate producers and a strong session vocalist from the U.S., came to prominence in 2009 with the release of “Animal,” a tremendously catchy song that demonstrated the skill of the band.
“Genghis Khan” just indicates the continued musical maturity of the band. The song is almost unspeakably infectious and dance-inducing. A true ear-worm, the song is carried by swinging synth and percussion and a vocal riff that sticks to a listener’s vocal cords; try listening to the song and not at least humming along to the riff. There is a bit of an insatiable quality to the song, a craving to listen to it on repeat. That is the mark of a successful producing. Paired with a video that is a twist on a classic James Bond scene, the song is a marvel.
#1: “Daydreaming” by Radiohead
I mean this as no disrespect to the other bands on the 2016 list, but Radiohead is in a class of its own. “Daydreaming,” the Music Court’s choice for best song of 2016, was released on the band’s ninth studio album A Moon Shaped Pool, the first release from the band in five years. In a few words A Moon Shaped Pool depicts Radiohead’s malleable adeptness and Thom Yorke’s lyrical sophistication. “Daydreaming” evidences why Radiohead is one of the best bands releasing music today; while most bands find a niche and stick to it intransigently, Radiohead is constantly finding ways to push the boundaries of music.
The song is like modern art. There is so much to it even though one only ostensibly hears an ambient, melancholic piano motif. And when I mention complexity I am not even talking about the behind-the-scenes electronic elements, spooky vocal effects, and bookended pitch-warping. There is pain in the lyric, Yorke’s effortless voice tinged with inherent sadness and eerie airiness. The video, which was directed by renowned film director Paul Thomas Anderson, features Yorke walking through several doors to disconnected areas, seems to suggest the inevitable passing of time, and the somewhat desultory rhythm of the progression of one’s life. At around the four minute mark, the song begins to crescendo, each element becoming crisper and more defined. Yorke’s vocal becomes more strained and fragmented until the song concludes with Yorke, in the video, walking through snow to a cave and then lying by a fire while low-tuned cellos growl and Yorke repeats an incoherent, warped vocal, which is a apt; in the end, does anything make sense?
And the list continues … We are in a bit of a time crunch, so until we reach the crux of the list, I am counting down two songs at a time. Outside of the fact that both the #9 and #8 songs of the year are considered alternative rock, there cannot be more different about DREAMERS and Kaleo – although Iceland, the hometown of Kaleo, is starting to seem more and more like Los Angeles, where DREAMERS is originally from, with all of the creative musicians spawning from the country of fire and ice. That said, I will take them for the way different musicians and we will start with #9.
#9 – “Sweet Disaster” by DREAMERS
DREAMERS – I don’t suggest you click that link if you are prone to epileptic fits – is a 3-piece eccentric psychedelic pop band who released their first LP in August of this year, and is thus a burgeoning artist on the scene. The album title, This Album Does Not Exist, is a perfect representation of DREAMERS – a band that almost wasn’t whose demeanor is now one of inclusive existentialism. This message is conveyed through a blend of several musical influences – a little Grouplove mixed with Miike Snow mixed with the psychedelic pop of the late 1960s. Add in a little good humor and take out all musical inhibition, and you have DREAMERS.
“Sweet Disaster” begins with a strung-out California-inspired guitar riff that carries over wispy percussion that provides subtle power to the vocal. At the choral crash, the instrumental turns more electronic, depending on astral synth under the pounding percussion. For a song on the early side of three minutes, DREAMERS packs in some noticeable complexity including a power-pop pre-chorus, key-driven bridge, and technically-impressive drumming towards the end. The song is just the beginning for this exciting band, and totally worthy of a spot on our countdown.
#8 – “Way Down We Go” by Kaleo
Kaleo is the next big thing from Iceland, a country that has brought us Of Monsters and Men, Seabear, and Bjork. Iceland is a hotbed of new music, and this oxymoronic introductory clause is an excellent symbolic representation of the music scene in the country, one that is setting the world ablaze while remaining true to its icy, dark roots. Kaleo does just that.
Kaleo, a 4-piece carried by the powerful vocals of JJ Julius Son, was founded in 2012 and released an eponymous first LP in 2013. By 2014, the band received heavy play from Spotify and it didn’t take long before Atlantic Records came knocking. While 2015 saw the release of the single listed here is the #8 song of the year, “Way Down We Go” was a track off Kaleo’s second LP A/B (released in June of 2016), and it was released as a single in the U.S. in October of 2016, so it is eligible for best song of the year consideration. Here it is on our list at #8.
JJ Julius Son’s voice is so soothing, is it not? It just effortlessly draws the listener in and then blows the listener back with its raw grittiness. The song is clearly carried by this tremendous vocal, but I would be averse not to mention the band’s haunting harmonies, heavy, toe-tapping percussion, and equally impressive guitar. The song finishes with a granular moan, and this reflects the entire piece, one of untested fervor, a song from a band that is willing to take risks and rock.
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