Believe The Hype: No Ripcord Recommendations
Welcome to our Believe The Hype portal. Consider this a condensed guide to the very best new music reviewed on No Ripcord in the last 6 months. Some of these picks provide a particularly challenging listening experience, while others will appeal to the vast majority on first listen; nevertheless, we consider them all to be essential examples of great music in 2010. We hope you find this section useful and look forward to your feedback.
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4 APRIL
THE KILLS
"Blood Pressures"
(Domino)
"[Blood Pressures] forms another reminder that Mosshart is really one of the finest (and most underrated) front-women around right now, a podium place confirmed by her work with The Dead Weather. I’d go as far as to say she’d even be one with Karen O if such heroics weren’t straight-jacketed by her own cool. Her cigarette snarl and Hince’s backing growl cut well with the bluesier rub of this record and in that respect it certainly feels a triumph. Blood Pressures is a compelling forty minutes, and by the time we reach the closer, Pots and Pans, with a slider and twelve bar riffs to accompany its sultry, resonant admissions, you can barely imagine them any other way."
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21 MARCH
JOSH T. PEARSON
"Last of the Country Gentlemen"
(Bella Union)
"Last Of The Country Gentlemen is about as intimate a portrait, as deep a story and as beguiling a listen as you're going to get this year, or any other year for that matter. Haunted with passion and distilled emotion the songs sprawl like a silent wind battling over dark dusty plains. It may only just break the silence, ever so slightly, taking you into deep thought, trance like as on Sweetheart I Ain't Your Christ, powerful beyond power, its poetry is in the shape it weaves as it takes you on." 9/10
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14 MARCH
EARTH
"Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light: 1"
(Southern Lord)
"As country music continually laughs at its origins with sugarcoating and mindless accessibility and cliché, (as does folk music), Carlson takes his drone metal vehicle and ties some roots to its persona. Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light: 1 becomes heritage music in that it owes much of itself to a seeming love of country, and I’m not speaking in terms of blind patriotism, NASCAR and Fox News. There is no way to misunderstand Carlson’s intentions like so many did with Springsteen’s Born In The USA: This is reinterpreted music of American origin. Alan Lomax could’ve recorded this." 10/10
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28 FEBRUARY
LYKKE LI
"Wounded Rhymes"
(LL Recordings)
"This album is not faultless, and at times it is arguably a little too grim and joyless to entirely hold its audience. In moving firmly away from the happier pop tone of her debut Lykke Li has nonetheless made a better record. Yes, this album is sad and fiercely raw; but it’s never wearying; at times even uplifting, and always convincing. And as the viciously cruel Silent My Soul closes the album, Lykke Li describes a time when she can’t “tell if I am living / or just holding on…”; you can’t help but allow Wounded Rhymes to provoke and manipulate your emotions, with an inviting melodic gloom and an outstretched hand. Is it something a bit special? Yes, it is." 9/10
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21 FEBRUARY
THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE
"Departing"
(Saddle Creek)
"With Departing, The Rural Alberta Advantage seem less confined to the Willa Cather’s prairie writings. It's as if the band uprooted their sound, and they've sent it to live in the city for a few years. There's something more metropolitan about this record, and it’s hard not to be intrigued by that. The songwriting is still easy to pinpoint as being The Rural Alberta Advantage. There is no great shift here in those terms. There is, however, a new-found sense of maturity, but it never gets in the way of emotionally charged songs. Everything's been shot with new energy and aggression: The drumming is fierce, the guitars are sharp, and just about everything comes together to form a record that's impenetrably solid." 9/10
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20 FEBRUARY
JULIANNA BARWICK
"The Magic Place"
(Asthmatic Kitty)
"The Magic Place is a graceful endeavor in harmonizing traditional choral techniques with more explorative abstractions. Conversely, she’s well aware that such an effort is underscored by what she’s learned from the minimalist greats of yore. But this is strictly a work of intuition – Barwick’s sample-based arrangements never sound neither mechanical nor emotionless. It’s filled with memorable moments, digital pieces that are essential towards captivating very human moments without battering with the greater scope of things. It all makes this all-encompassing memory trip worth remembering." 8/10
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16 FEBRUARY
JAMES BLAKE
"James Blake"
(Atlas)
"f you were to encapsulate what James Blake is about in one song, I Never Learned to Share would be it. Blake isn’t exactly prolific with his lyric writing, and this song contains repetition of just one line - “My brother and my sister don’t speak to me, but I don’t blame them”. It begins a cappella, before a second voice accompanies, sometimes echoing the melody line, sometimes slightly discordant. Warm synths lead to a quasi-triumphant false climax, before beats enter and the layering begins in earnest. The tension is ratcheted up bar by bar, with white noise creeping in around the edges before becoming more prominent, louder, and then louder still. The track seems ready to explode, and it does, into a primal, cathartic disco riff, dripping with effects and, somehow, sounding almost magnetic. The melody line oscillates and twitches, the beats pulse and the track ends on a thrilling high." 9/10
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14 FEBRUARY
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AKRON/FAMILY
"Akron/Family II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT"
(Dead Oceans)
"At the heart of many of these tracks lies a fairly straightforward song structure, but it’s always complemented by a multitude of other ideas that seem to creep into the mix. Light Emerges, based around a childlike interplay between two xylophones, is frequently interspersed with deep bass pulses, snarling guitar loops and crazy synth squirls. And A AAA O A WAY’s simple two-note bassline is transformed by space age squeals and rumbles, before retiring into a mellow, bluesy epilogue. It’s almost like choosing between ideas all got too much, so they decided to throw them all in - here’s a group who couldn’t settle on just one band name, after all. As such, it’s an album that greatly rewards repeated listens." 9/10
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13 FEBRUARY
PJ HARVEY
"Let England Shake"
(Island)
"Let England Shake may be Harvey’s less vainglorious manifestation, but it is also her most intoxicating. Rather than exposing a personal voice, she exercises her political inquietudes with studied intellectualism. Sightless accusations could be made about Harvey giving a condescending eye with macro-political pamphlets. In turn, Harvey speaks in the point of view of an Englishwoman who is distressed with the vague tactical policies that have defined her native land. Harvey hardly opines of her homeland. Instead, she holds the same posture any respectable middle-class English person would have were they to wrinkle the flag of St. George. In England, she indubitably bawls in vocal acrobacies: To you England, I cling/Undaunted, never failing love for you, contorting a duality every disillusioned citizen has with the place they came from." 10/10
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5 FEBRUARY
THE STREETS
"Cyberspace and Reds / Computers and Blues"
(Atlantic)
"While Cyberspace and Reds burns with the fire of a thousand Birmingham residents, Computers and Blues takes a more mellow, almost mature spin on the life of Mr. Skinner. While the previous record could come off a little more one-sided (or focused if you’re a party animal yourself), Computers and Blues has everything from the rantings of a paranoid agoraphobe (Outside Inside) to ignorance on the human condition (Puzzled By People) to the fears of a soon-to-be dad (Blip On A Screen) to realistic expectations of lost love (We Can Never Be Friends). Each of them contain some part of Skinner’s trademark fusion style, but they’re less muddled with the comings and goings of cameos." 9/10
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2 FEBRUARY
SONIC YOUTH
"Simon Werner A Disparu"
(SYR)
"For a band as brash and sonically alienating as they can be, Sonic Youth are in full on vortex mode here, sucking you in into a world of lush densities and hypnotic soundscapes that makes it impossible to escape. The sheer depth and variety of tones, textures and tensions on this record make it a cinematic experience in itself. Film is an art form rooted deep in the need to explore and display the complexities of human emotion, and Sonic Youth have captured that exploration perfectly and transformed it into a piece of work that not only embodies the various degrees of emotions and thoughts we all experience, but it creates new ones whilst doing so, through it’s exploratory and deeply affecting methods." 9/10
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26 JANUARY
SIC ALPS
"Napa Asylum"
(Drag City)
"As far as creative development is concerned, Sic Alps’ pop-injected psychedelia presents a more refined device for the band. There’s still resignation in their tone, sort of a verbal nonchalance that’s supported by the slow moving Jolly and then the mutating atonal conjuring of Eat Happy. Do You Want To Give $$?struts along, bass thick and strong, a memorable standout with a hook that keeps playing long after the song ends. And, then there are solid shots of melody in Saint Peter Writes His Book, followed by the flurrying guitar notes in Zeppo Epp." 9/10
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25 JANUARY
THE JOY FORMIDABLE
"The Big Roar"
(Atlantic)
"From the moment you enter into The Big Roar, there is a sense of purpose and deliberation that is so lacking in most debut records. The Joy Formidable have done a wonderful and brave thing: this record is built on an air of the terrible and the terrified – it is threatening and exhilarating and loud as necessary, with homologous moments of quiet tension that provoke and stir the sense of trepidation with excellent skill." 9/10
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23 JANUARY
IRON & WINE
"Kiss Each Other Clean"
(4AD / Warner Bros.)
"Once again, Beam demands his audience to follow him towards the road less taken. Whether those choices are calculated or untried, he steadily shifts directions, confident in that his listeners will follow suit. Kiss Each Other Clean isn’t as far removed from his previous effort, as it showcases a more than self-sufficient songwriter who prefers to discover the fruits of collaboration. When listening, the young might grow a few hairs, while the old may rekindle their wonder years. But that’s the beauty of Iron & Wine: his seamless genre bending will always transcend generational gaps." 8/10
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21 JANUARY
THE PHOENIX FOUNDATION
"Buffalo"
(Memphis Industries)
"This album then is in no way spectacular or ostentatious, but partly because of this there are almost no moments at which it falls flat; and if anything marks out an LP as being not just good, but very good, as well as stepping it away from being a mere collection of songs, it’s an excellently crafted and cohesive consistency." 8/10
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4 JANUARY
DESTROYER
"Kaputt"
(Marge)
"Kaputt’s never plodding or laborious, but it certainly takes at least a minimal amount of attention and time to make it through every track without distraction. This is a solid album with some great ideas, and when it’s given the attention it really deserves, those qualities come out in droves. It’s a perfect release for inevitable January snow: Graceful, inviting, and evocative as ever, Dan Bejar’s assembled the necessary parts for an early-year success." 9/10
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11 DECEMBER
OFF!
"First Four EPs"
(Vice)
"What’s striking about Off! is how they deliver each and every time. It takes 17 minutes to skimp through these tracks, but these official demos are enviable by any high standards. The production sounds rough but sophisticated, giving breathing room for Morris to howl his sharp nuances. Lyrically, most of this package cries like literal colloquialism – Morris justly complains about establishments, poor management, hysteria, and overall ignorance. Except that now he’s lived a little bit more to actually assess what once was purely hypothetical. In an era of tax cut debates, political divide, and a recession that rings just as true today, Morris' boiling rage seems especially relevant." 8/10
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23 NOVEMBER
KANYE WEST
"My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"
(Def Jam)
"Kanye West’s Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a sprawling, ambitious, orchestral fuck-you of an album, and he wants you to know it. Critics have given it universal acclaim, but it’s hard to see the minions lapping up every lyric with anything but brainwashed adulation. When Kanye West says he’s pimpin’ Mount Olympus, you better start looking to the heavens. If you don’t like it, you can kiss the ring, his whole ass, and/or his asshole. Some have seen this tour-de-force as a massive, self-aware apology for past wrongs, or at worst a tongue-in-cheek reaction to media attention. But I’m not buying it. I’m not saying he’s not self-aware. He knows he’s a 21st-century schizoid man, that he’s trippin’ off the power, that reality is catching up with him. The entire album (as evidenced by this review alone) is purely autobiographical, but the apologies are backhanded, the self-reflections petulant. Kanye West knows he’s completely batshit, but nobody else is allowed to point that out. What becomes painfully obvious after even a not-so-careful listen is that this record is meant to stonewall all criticism from here on out." 8/10
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15 NOVEMBER
NIGHTLANDS
"Forget The Mantra"
(Secretly Canadian)
"Forget the Mantra is an admirable insight into the thought process of merging dreams with reality. Hartley did draw on many reliable sources to pen this material. The Books is the most fitting example, since Hartley likes to make sense out of manipulated sound elements and enlightening phrases to achieve existential clarity. Also, it is a bit disappointing that Hartley’s trance is very similar to that of Avey Tare, Noah Lennox, or Chris Taylor. I mean, is every psychedelic experience the same wobbly myriad of textures and sporadic colors? Your appreciation for Forget the Mantra will depend on whether you can stomach another neo-psychedelic lab work. The timing may not be right, but this is certainly cream of the crop material. " 8/10
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14 NOVEMBER
CEE LO GREEN
"The Lady Killer"
(Elektra)
"As you almost certainly know, Forget You is the weak, clean substitute version of the viral hit that was Fuck You, a righteous Motown vehicle of defiance, and a perfectly crafted pop song at that. And that’s exactly what you’ll find on this record: neo-soul infused, perfectly crafted pop on a timeless theme – the heartbroken and the heartbreakers – from start to finish." 9/10
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10 NOVEMBER
THE WALKMEN
"Lisbon"
(Fat Possum)
"While Angela Surf City and the horn-laden Stranded are the most likely tracks to capture your initial attention, Lisbon’s strongest moments take a little longer to reveal their charms. Torch Song is my current favourite, partially because of its comically accurate title, which I can only assume was a working title/in joke that just stuck. The Walkmen don’t always come across as particularly adventurous, but how many other indie-rock bands would have the audacity to record a harmony-drenched torch song in 2010? More to the point, how many could hope to pull it off as well as this?" 8/10
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4 NOVEMBER
BIRD BY SNOW
"Common Wealth"
(Gnome Life Records)
"Fletcher Tucker and Spencer Owen’s off time psych folk album Common Wealth mirrors a landscape, a peaceable and sun bright spot where the air can bite your cheeks and chap your lips. Minimalist in every sense of the word, Common Wealth is an affecting and delicate album, lacking [Justin] Vernon’s cathartic needs and instead expressing quiet seclusion with analog sensitivity." 9/10
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3 NOVEMBER
SUCKERS
"Wild Smile"
(Frenchkiss)
"Wild Smile is more than just a collection of homages, though. To wit: Marthaʼs mariachi horns and marimbas, the former a holdover from 7” b-side Out on the Water. In the hands of a less capable band, it would sound like tacky faux-world music, but Suckers transform it into a bright-eyed epic. Part of it is simple variety: the album segues from feverish shouting to delicate falsetto to bossa nova. And yet, Wild Smile holds together – everything clicks; Suckers make this stylistic smorgasbord indisputably their own." 9/10
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23 OCTOBER
THE EXTRA LENS
"Undercard"
(Merge)
"Undercard, released by Merge Records, is, well, good. It’s packed with lyrical endeavors befitting the music, and the musical resonance is masterfully timed alongside a very particular style of lyric. Yeah, you’d probably recognize it as Darnielle without any trouble. This is clearly not a “Mountain Goats-side project,” wrapped and packaged with shiny stickers espousing such." 9/10
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13 OCTOBER
DEERHUNTER
"Halycon Digest"
(4AD/Kranky)
"It’s Deerhunter's second masterpiece in a row, and most natural record, a one-two punch for the books. They’ve established themselves as one of the best bands in the world, and I can only see them getting better. Halcyon Digest goes by like a breeze, and when it’s finished there’s nothing better to do than play it again." 10/10
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11 OCTOBER
BELLE & SEBASTIAN
"Write About Love"
(Rough Trade)
"Write About Love may not be a great leap forward for Belle and Sebastian, but it’s such an enjoyable record it’s difficult to hold it against them. Plus, there are signs they’re honing their craft and growing into the band they’ve always been capable of being. Trevor Horn may have produced perhaps the definitive pop record of the 1980s with ABC’s The Lexicon of Love, but on Write About Love, Belle and Sebastian display more than enough to suggest that one day they’ll be able to eclipse their former colleague, and they’ll do so with a swagger." 9/10
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21 SEPTEMBER
SWANS
"My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky"
(Young God)
"As Michael Gira’s Swans have reemerged after 13 years of inactivity, it makes perfect sense that he would want to pursue the opportunities this band has historically offered. Though with My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky, he seems less interested in being unlistenable, and more interested in utilizing its experimental base as a way to bolster a more theatrically composed concept." 10/10
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11 SEPTEMBER
SUN KIL MOON
"Admiral Fell Promises"
(Caldo Verde)
"Kozelek, whether under the guise of Sun Kil Moon or Red House Painters, has always challenged expectations with his work, and remained reliably one step ahead. Whether it's by fortune or skill, however, he judges his audience perfectly and his maturation always aligns neatly with his audiences, giving him an air of progressiveness even as he delves so explicitly into classical influence." 9/10
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31 AUGUST
BLACK MOUNTAIN
"Wilderness Heart"
(Jagjaguwar)
"Bands like Black Mountain seem very rare, ably and willingly carrying on those wayward sons still in love with arena swagger and hit-making persuasion. Queens of the Stone Age aided in filling that void for a while, celebrating avant-garde manipulations of the 70s rock paradigm, but with Black Mountain the Sabbath-inspired edge gleams so brightly it’s blinding, at least this time around. " 9/10
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