Media Party

GATEFOLDING, Vol. 44

Impossible Truth
William Tyler

Click to enlarge.

Divine Fits at Lee's Palace

My Morning Jacket at Echo Beach

Sonny and the Sunsets at The Silver Dollar

Magic Trick at The Silver Dollar

Twin Shadow at Lee's Palace

Youth Lagoon at The Opera House

Father John Misty at The Opera House

Dirty Projectors at Danforth Music Hall

Purity Ring at Danforth Music Hall

Fiona Apple at Sound Academy

Spiritualized at The Phoenix

GATEFOLDING, Vol. 43: Beastie Boys

Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys

Click to enlarge.

Check Your Head
Beastie Boys

Click to enlarge.

Ill Communication
Beastie Boys

Click to enlarge.

The Drums at The Phoenix

Craft Spells at The Phoenix

Acid Mothers Temple at The Garrison

GATEFOLDING, Vol. 42: The Band

Music From Big Pink
The Band

Click to enlarge.

The Band
The Band

Click to enlarge.

Before The Blood
Bob Dylan and The Band

Click to enlarge.

The Basement Tapes
Bob Dylan and The Band

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Howlin Rain at The Garrison

Top 30 Albums of 2011: Part Three (10-1)

by Jonathan Doyle, Neil Karassik and Ken Stuebing

10. PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Starting with 2007's White Chalk, PJ Harvey has stripped-down her sound to a streamlined delivery mechanism for her resolute voice. On Let England Shake, that voice delivers a powerful statement against war. I'm unaware of any artist who has attempted this kind of album since Neil Young's Living With War and, due respect to Uncle Neil, but Polly Jean blows him out of the water with her passion, vitriol and artistry. As beautiful as this album occasionally is, this is inherently challenging music that does not necessarily invite repeat plays. According to Harvey, the fruit of England/America's imperialism is orphaned children. On the chilling stomper, "The Words That Maketh Murder," she rhetorically references "Summertime Blues" by asking, "What if I take my problems to the United Nations?" This is not war as an abstract, but stinking flesh rotting in dirty fields -- and it's among the most important albums of the year. -- KS

Top 30 Albums of 2011: Part Two (20-11)

by Jonathan Doyle, Neil Karassik and Ken Stuebing

20. Tom Waits - Bad as Me
Over a career spanning four decades, Tom Waits has long since earned his lifetime pass. This year's offering is an even split of brawlers and bawlers, straight no chaser. Waits's best known styles are on display across thirteen odd tunes, containing some of the year's most quotable lyrics. (Any album that declares "Heavens to Murgatroid" out the gates is an instant winner.) The players are a welcome gallery of familiar names: Waits plays a mean piano, Mark Ribot weaves his signature snaky guitar lines and Keith Richards kicks ass on the Stones-quoting "Satisfied." Timeless romanticism mixes well with rough-hewn cynicism, proving there's room enough for all of Waits's many moods. Though every song leaves an impact ("Last Leaf" dampens eyes like nobody's business), it's "Hell Broke Luce" -- the gritty sequel to Real Gone's antiwar ballad "The Day After Tomorrow" -- that hits hardest. It's a harrowing take on war veterans' PTSD, equal parts poignant and disturbing. He who suggests Waits was the least bit "Bad" has either missed this marvellous record or should forthwith dislodge his head from his nethers. -- KS

Top 30 Albums of 2011: Part One (30-21)

by Jonathan Doyle, Neil Karassik and Ken Stuebing

30. Ducktails - Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics
Last January felt a little bit warmer with the release of this mellow gem from Real Estate guitarist Matthew Mondanile. Ducktails’ latest album sounds a lot like Mondanile’s other band -- before their slightly more polished sophomore LP (see our top 10) -- harkening back to their earlier, more fuzzed-out hooks, hazy vocals and other lo-fi trappings. Several of the standout tracks (“Killing the Vibe” and the Seinfeld-referencing “Art Vandelay”) would’ve been right at home on Real Estate’s debut, but perhaps they better suit Ducktails' consistently laidback track list, which makes this album stand out on its own. Comparisons between both of Mondanile’s projects are unavoidable, which is certainly not a bad thing, because they’re both exceptional. -- NK

Pretty Good Shjip

Interesting fact: the "j" in Wooden Shjips is not silent, it's pronounced like a "y" (ie. Wooden Shyips). Enigmatic name notwithstanding, the San Francisco psych rockers don't offer the most nuanced or varied live experience, in spite of the musical evolution they exhibit on their new album, West. If their repetitive droning, affectless vocals and abrasive jams don't win you over from the outset, you may as well head home because there's a lot more where that came from. Of course, if you're going in with an informed enthusiasm, you won't be disappointed. Volume alone made the band impossible to ignore during their November 7th show at The Horseshoe, even if their detached demeanour suggested a certain indifference (or obliviousness) to the audience. No words were exchanged and the band elected not to return for an encore, but in terms of stellar musicianship, they got the job done. Eleven days later, I'm still a little deaf. -- JD

GATEFOLDING, Vol. 41

Era Extraña
Neon Indian

Click to enlarge.

Neon Indian at Lee's Palace

As a recording project, Neon Indian is almost exclusively the work of Alan Palomo. On the road, however, Palomo travels with a whole gang of musicians, leaving him free to focus on vocals... and dancing (he also finds time to occasionally fiddle with synthesizers and other electronic gadgets). Rather than simply recreate the tracks from his two terrific albums, Palomo and his band reinvent these tracks live. Below you'll see this practice in action in a pair of videos from the band's October 18th show at Lee's Palace. The first is set opener "Terminally Chill" (from 2009's Psychic Chasms) and the second is "Future Sick" (from this year's Era Extraña). -- JD

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks at The Phoenix

In the eyes of some, Pavement were to the nineties what R.E.M. were to the eighties: the decade's most consistent, influential and ultimately defining indie rock band. In the Pavement biography, Perfect Sound Forever, a diagram of the bands and albums that influenced Pavement was included -- and all six R.E.M. albums from the eighties made the cut. It's appropriate, then, that Stephen Malmus would offer some kind of formal response to the band's break-up on the evening that it was announced (September 21st, 2011). Band break-ups (and reunions) are old news to Malkmus, but on the night of R.E.M.'s big announcement, classic R.E.M. songs played before SM and the Jicks took the stage. The band also opened their encore with a cover of R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe". Other than that, most of the show was devoted to tracks from Malkmus' excellent 2011 album, Mirror Traffic, including "All Over Gently" and "Forever 28," which you can watch below (along with a video of opener Holy Sons). -- JD