Jim O'Rourke in a Walmart Ad

Drischord, I suspect that emusic is behind this treachery!

Tex Plush's Favorite Albums of 2009

13. God Help The Girl
Belle and Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch has made an album with all female singers, fantastic vocal and string arrangements, and a slight musical theater bent. In addition to some great new songs, this album includes reimaginings of a couple tracks off of The Life Pursuit - a B&S album with fantastic songwriting that was fatally wounded by poor production values (I literally can't listen to TLP anymore because of the way the snare drum sounds). Thanks, Stuart, for saving this song in particular from the rubbish bin:

12. Grizzly Bear - Vecatamist
11. Volcano Choir - Unmap
Bon Iver teamed up with a noise/glitch rock outfit called A Collection of Colonies of Bees. This track is one of the most song-oriented tracks off the album - the rest is often formless and instrumental, but always beautiful and worth listening to while you stare out the window at the snow. Not for nothing, this album also proves to me that To Emma, Forever Ago wasn't a fluke, even if he does sound more and more like Chris Martin every time I hear him.

10. The xx - xx
Super hypnotic, late, late, late-night, indie rock booty call music. Don't laugh until you try it at 3am with your lady.

9. Rick Ross - Deeper Than Rap
My favorite rap album of the year. Solid front to back and smoove RnB hooks aplenty:

8. Them Crooked Vultures - S/T
7. Vetiver - Tight Knit
A more calming record did not exist for me this year. Here's one of the more upbeat tracks:

6. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs
Yo La Tengo really does get better with age. I like their earlier albums for sure, but on their last two they've hit on a mixtape strategy that really plays to their strengths - every song sounds totally different from the last. It was hard to pick one song that represented the record because, well, NO song represents the entire record. From 15 minute long noise rock epics to motown love anthems, everything you want is here. And it is never redundant.

5. Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band
4. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm
3. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

2. Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor
Get it. Love it. It's all instrumental and a return to a semi-pop direction (even if the album is a single track), recorded in Jim's apartment in Japan with him playing all the instruments. It sounds amazing on vinyl. You should come over and listen to it.

1. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
I don't know what else I can say about this band. They are quite simply the most innovative and exciting rock band making records today. If they remain on the trajectory of their last two albums, I would not be surprised to see them get as big as Radiohead or Wilco. I've always understood that an eccentric vocalist can sink a band for people - and Dirty Projectors certainly has one of those, even if Longstreth has all but eliminated the more divisive elements of his singing on their latest masterpiece. I also understand reticence to bow to the alter of hipster pretension. But go see these guys live while they're still playing rooms small enough for you to see fingers on the fretboards. You'll come away believing that these guys are the real deal, and humble enough to take what they're doing to the next stage. They can play the shit out of their instruments, and the singing must be seen to be believed. Bitte Orca is not perfect, but it comes close enough to be absolutely jaw-dropping. They don't make 'em like this anymore, kids.

Jim O'Rourke - The Visitor

Wanted to give a shout out to the new Jim O'Rourke album. Drischord turned me onto him in the late nineties, and he has become one of the most enduring favorite musicians I've ever had. The Visitor, his new one is absolutely spectacular - a single track (unless you have it on vinyl, like me), and unavailable for download (unless it's been ripped by now, which i'm sure it has been).
No vocals, every instrument played by Jim in his apartment in Japan. It's been 8 years since his last record and I am ecstatic that the new one is not laptop improvisation (though I have been known to like those albums of his too). It is absolutely beautiful - fans of Bad Timing will not be disappointed.
I dare say this is the rare album the entire Collective can agree on.

Here's a nytimes article on The Visitor that the good Dr. turned me onto
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/arts/music/06ratl.html

And a trip down memory lane to hear Drischord's thoughts in the Daily Northwestern circa 2002!
http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/2.13929/genius-misanthropy-jim-o-rourke-1.1991127

A new Jim O'Rourke album?!?!

I didn't even realize til I saw Pitchfork this morning! I'm so excited!! Has anyone heard it yet? My vinyl copy (and I sprung for an LP of Insignificance while I was at it) is now in the mail...

Countdown to Sonic Youth

There's a new Sonic Youth record on the way-- although it's still 3 months off. I read about this one on Pitchfork a few weeks ago (I still value their news reporting, which seems to be independent of their reviews). It's not out until June 9, but I'm still very excited.

I've been listening to a lot of the 3 most recent Sonic Youth albums-- defined by when they suddenly decided they care about melody again. Great records, all. The first two, Murray Street and Sonic Nurse, featured Jim O'Rourke as a full-on member and I sort of credited him for their renaissance. But then he left before they made their most recent record, Rather Ripped, and that one was awesome too. (Not to mention that O'Rourke was already a member on the awful NYC Ghosts and Flowers, so his contributions had been overemphasized in my mind.)

Oh and also, Thurston Moore's most recent solo album, Trees Outside the Academy, is dead-on gorgeous at times. (There are a few noise tracks in there as well, but there are 9 true pop songs that form the core of the record.)

And now former Pavement bassist Mark Ibold is in the band. I saw Pavement live once and didn't think much of anyone's instrumental prowess beyond Malkmus himself, but I'm still intrigued by this combo.

If you haven't heard any of the 3 most recent albums, you owe it to yourself. I'm attaching "Stones" from Sonic Nurse. Awesome song, goes into some jammy stuff in the middle and the end, but never into the noise freak-outs that dragged down would-be cool albums like Washing Machine. It also helps that while Thurston and Lee Ranaldo are at the top of their game, Kim Gordon is as palletteable as she's ever been. (Her songs are still the worst on their respective albums, but there's not the same compulsion to press "skip" that there might have been in the past.)

Here's "Stones"