YAY FOR GOOD ALBUMS pt. 2
- Fuck Buttons - “Tarot Sport”
When I first heard an edit of the first track, “Surf Solar,” I couldn’t help but imagine a video of a packed club with people dancing to the pulsing rhythm under flashing strobe lights. However, upon closer look, instead of dancing they are entangled in a mass brawl. Everyone slowly beating each other up in a violent yet oddly beautiful scene. This kind of describes this album for me, beautifully violent. As the rhythms heavily punch you in the gut forcing you to move along to them, the melodies raise your head to the sky with child like wonder. It’s a really heavy album, one that makes me worn out after listening to it. However, it’s also the only album this year that made me feel triumphant afterwards, and that’s always nice.
Key Tracks: “Surf Solar” and “Olympians” and as a little caveat, these tracks are a little long but still well worth it.
- Here We Go Magic - “Here We Go Magic”
“You won’t accept that anything is possible. You won’t accept that you’re only human” - “Tunnelvision”
Mmmm… hazy pop. Who didn’t like this in 2009? I for one really enjoyed it. This album is one of my first brushes with it, and boy did it keep me warm through the rest of the winter/early spring. As opposed to his earlier works, Luke Temple decides to mix his voice a little bit lower into the music, giving it a warm and fuzzy feel like your favorite winter cardigan or sweater. He also uses layers upon layers of loops recorded onto a four-track to give it a nice hazy sheen like a good dream you remembered the next morning. Also like a dream, the album moves pretty fast, before you know it you’re waking up to “Everything’s Big” and walking out into the beautiful world.
Key Tracks - “Only Pieces” and “Ahab”
- Why? - “Eskimo Snow”
“I want to speak at an intimate decibel, with the precision of an infinite decimal, to listen up and send a true echo, of something forever felt but never heard, I want that sharpened steel of truth in every word.” - “This Blackest Purse”
Yoni Wolf, in his lyrics, has often come off as an oversexed, sad, lonely boy (I’m unsure if he feels that he’s made it to manhood yet.) This isn’t a complaint by any means, it’s actually kind of a compliment. This general fact also makes it so that he comes off as if he is constantly searching for something. I like to think he’s just searching for some kind of truth, something that can give him an answer to his band’s name. This might come off as rude, but I kind of hope he never gets that answer. If he did, he might not be making music this beautifully heart wrenching. Keep wearing your heart on your sleeve Mr. Wolf, and I’ll keep listening to your wonderful wordplay.
Key Tracks: “Against Me”, “Even the Good Wood Gone”, and “Into the Shadows of My Embrace”
