2010 music, part two

Weekend

Sports

OK, I just discovered this one, so I haven’t had much time to reflect on it, but I’m already mesmerized. The album is Sports and it’s by a San Fran band named Weekend. The first listen struck me as few albums do, which is why it’s already become a fav of 2010. It’s hard not to fall in love with an album that opens with the devastating “Coma Summer” (never mind the title -- this is a dark, winter day’s soundtrack). I love the wallowing guitar that phases in, out and over Shaun Durkan’s lyrics. It’s hypnotizing stuff. “Monday Morning” glumly shimmers like an undiscovered gem from Joy Division. And "Veil" will break your heart. Its lyrics are cloaked in reverb; a rattling bass forces circulation; and at the 3:45 mark the guitar bursts through. Just as "Veil" begins to burn, its ashes fade in a wash of hazy sound.

As I age, this time of season becomes more bitter, sweeter. Ghosts from the past seem to weave in and out of the cloud swollen sky. The sun is gone by 5. A glaze of ice catches my face in the cold breeze. It’s harsh, yet strangely comforting. Sports offers an accompanying dose of solace.

2010 music, part one

Twenty-ten has been a great year for indie music. Over the next few posts I’ll be sharing some of my favorites. I’ll start with an unknown – well, unknown to me – band from Manchester, England.

Working For A Nuclear Free City
Jojo Burger Tempest

This album—No, strike that, this band has been one of my better discoveries in recent memory, and I’m shocked they remain relatively unknown. In many ways, Jojo Burger Tempest is what Radiohead would’ve sounded like if Kid A hadn’t been conceived. Working For A Nuclear Free City, like Radiohead, have the gift of carving a unique niche into practically every song they record. Just listen to “Alphaville" (below), or “Float Bridges,” or “Low.” WFANFC's songs are structured and produced for maximum effect, and their musical excursions never seem forced or contrived.

Jojo, the band's second album, is an ambitious 89-minute experience (the second disc features just one track, a 33-minute collage entitled "The Jojo Burger Tempest") relayed through a shifting, aural prism of myriad musical influences. There are hints of The Olvia Tremor Control, Blur, Broken Social Scene, The Beta Band, M83, UNKLE, Animal Collective, The Folk Implosion, Tortoise and just about any other band that “gets” songwriting. And that’s the thing about songwriting: a lot of bands are good at it, but only a few “get it,” and Working For A Nuclear Free City “gets it.” Despite the transatlantic influences, Jojo is a very English-sounding record, which might explain their relative anonymity here in the States.

If you dig Jojo, you gotta check out their previous release, Businessmen and Ghosts. (Definitely check out the band's SXSW Lounge Act session from 2008 for a taste of Businessmen.) And keep an eye on WFANFC – watching them age should be quite a treat.

xx