FAME OR SHAME
I've tweaked the blog a bit today, as Blogger has a seriously limited number of templates available and I was begining to feel self-conscious about the similarities between my board and others. In the process, I can still taste Paula Abdul in the back of my mouth (eww, not like that) and figured I should use the opportunity to cleanse the palate a bit.
Thus, I give you the Pomax Valhalla, a list of interesting musics/people/things that are somewhere in my thoughts. This list is subject to change each time I post, and if you piss me off, you might make the list. You can also buy me flowers or chocolates.
PEACEBONES AND PANDAS
Animal Collective is currently at the top of the list because their name begins with A. But as I am currently obsessing over Strawberry Jam, as I did with Feels and Sung Tongs, I feel obligated to elevate this band to a certain new level of prominence in my personal musical landscape. Not only do they keep pushing and surpassing themselves, but the individual strengths of each member continue to strengthen (whether Panda's percussion or Geologist's sounds or Avey's all-encompassing weirdness), and the resulting tension in their songs has become almost unbearably immersive. (Immersive tension? Does that make sense?)
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the creepy/weird/silly video for "Peacebone":
Avey Tare released an album earlier this year with his new wife, one of those twin girls from Múm who graced the cover of that Belle and Sebastian record that no one likes except for Ben. I didn't think I'd ever again buy anything Múm-related, but this record is pretty cool. They recorded a number of gentle, acoustic, and somewhat rambling songs together and then digitally reversed them. When you buy the album, you can use a sound editor to turn them back around if you wish, but they're MUCH better backwards. Take, for example, the extended coda on "Sis Around the Sandmill," which kind of goes nowhere on the regular song but acts as a very cool lead-in to the haunting sounds of the album. By eliminating lyrical meaning and traditional structure, the backwards tracks emphasize the sounds and the moods that these two conjure up, and anyone familiar with Kría's voice from those Múm records should know how effective she can be in a wash of sound that overrides her simple preciousness.
So now with Avey's record, and Panda Bear's magnificent Person Pitch (the swirling 12-minute centerpiece "Bro's" will seduce and entrance you with its lushness and beauty), and the full band's thrillingly accessible (is it?) Strawberry Jam, 2007 is truly shaping up to be a banner year for Animal Collective. This comes as a relief to some of us who, once upon a time, felt that Sung Tongs might have been the peak of their creativity. (You can read my leaden PopMatters review, bad metaphors and all, here.)
HEROES AND ZEROES
Considering how long I just babbled on about one of the items in my new Valhalla list, I certainly don't have the time to go on about all the others. Let's just say that the longer someone remains on the list, the more you'll probably hear about them, and if anything up there goes unspoken about, feel free to ask me and maybe I'll make it a point to write something. For now, I'll just say that despite my obvious affection for Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam is *not* my current choice for album of the year. And neither is Radiohead. But you'll have to wait till December to see how it all plays out.
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