Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association
2009 National Conference – New Orleans, LA
To be featured in panel “Music: Influences”

“When You Wake You’re Still in a Dream: My Bloody Valentine and the Shoegazer Revival.”

In September 2008, legendary UK music festival All Tomorrow’s Parties made its first foray into the United States, assembling a roster of acclaimed up-and-coming musicians over a long weekend in the Catskills for an audience of 3000 concertgoers. Interestingly, ATP chose post-punk band My Bloody Valentine to headline the festival and handpick the other 40 participating acts.

But why would organizers rely on a band that hadn’t released an album since 1991 to curate a major festival 17 years later? The answer is that much of the ATP roster acknowledges a great debt to that 1991 album, Loveless, for shaping its sound. Loveless and the “shoegazer” movement that followed it (often simply referred to in the press as the “post-Loveless” era) were overshadowed by grunge in the US; however, unlike grunge, this movement quietly birthed a second generation that is now arguably stronger (and certainly more visible) than the first. Additionally, many bands of the early 1990s whose careers were launched by Loveless have chosen to reunite in the wake of the Valentines’ recent activity (which includes a remastering and reissue of the album), appearing at the same festival and recording their own comeback albums.

In this presentation, I will discuss the 2008 ATP festival as an important moment in indie and alternative music culture in terms of both its future and its past. I will highlight the return of My Bloody Valentine and Loveless to the stage and studio and show how they continue to influence contemporary musical trends.

Happy New Year! In 2007, I didn’t find much music I liked. In 2005, I didn’t listen to much music. But the even-numbered years have been better to me lately; in fact, I think I’ve had as much fun with music this year as I ever have. The list is deep. I probably even forgot a few.

Note: I’m not much of a folkie. Whereas you’ll see Fleet Foxes and Frightened Rabbit at the top of many year-end lists in the music mags, they’re further down for me. Personal taste, that’s all. Shrug. I still like ‘em, believe me… otherwise they’d be conspicuously absent like, say, Whitesnake’s new album.

Click on the band names to go to their Myspace pages. Click on the covers to go to their album pages on Amazon.

1. Elbow, The Seldom Seen Kid. I’ve been beaten to the punch here: Elbow has already won England’s 2008 Mercury Prize for this album. For those who have been following the band’s career, though, it’s not a big surprise. On their first album Elbow established themselves at the top of the current crop of UK rockers from Coldplay to Travis to Keane. On their second album, they abandoned that approach and sought out their own quirky style; they didn’t end up with very many solid songs, though. On their third album, they finally struck the balance and made their first attempt at an album greater than the sum of its parts. And on this one they concentrated on songwriting. They finally hit the nail square on the head; it’s a career album. “Grounds for Divorce” is the obvious standout track, but I’m just as fond of gentler fare such as “An Audience with the Pope” and “The Fix Is In” (co-written and co-sung by Richard Hawley). There are a couple of skippable tracks, sure, but even after you skip ‘em you’ve got a full and satisfying album.

2. Portishead, Third. Back when Eminem occupied himself with making fun of Moby, he ended his taunting with the claim, “Nobody listens to techno.” Now, that might be true: Moby made a techno album this year that, ambitious as it was, just wasn’t all that good. And nobody listened to it. But… in the meantime, “electronica” and electro-influenced music had a better year than Eminem did in 2008, especially on my list. First up are trip-hop pioneers Portishead, who are shoo-ins for top spots once every decade when they come out of their caves and make an album. This album eschews the lounge music and French movie samples in favor of a harsher sound (see “Silence” and “Machine Gun”). They even change the tempo on a couple of songs. But the unrelenting hopelessness that we’ve all grown to know and love in their music is still there. Beth Gibbons’ insular vocals will still chill you to the bone.

3. The Gutter Twins, Saturnalia. You could predict how this one would turn out just by listening to Greg Dulli’s Twilight Singers’ last album as well as Mark Lanegan’s excellent solo album Bubblegum. Team those two up and of course you’re going to get a dark, apocalyptic rock-blues album. Dulli is the dominant personality here; the album is more reminiscent of the Twilight Singers than anything else. But the best tunes are the ones in which Lanegan’s raspy vocals are front and center (”The Stations,” “Idle Hands,” etc.). Dude sings like a coal cart rumbling down a mine shaft in hell. Even when the album calms down in the second half, the songs maintain their grip.

4. M83, Saturdays=Youth. I’ve followed Anthony Gonzalez and ambient electronica group M83 since the beginning, so imagine my surprise when they suddenly turned a corner and released an album full of 80s pop. With vocals. Listen to “Kim & Jessie” or “Graveyard Girl” and you’ll swear you’re in the wrong decade. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t hate 80s music; I just don’t like the affected, fussy stuff. But M83 is pretty far from that; they’ve reinvented themselves as a lush version of Simple Minds – a band that, if anything, believed in what they were doing. M83 doesn’t seem to care about the potential for kitschiness in multilayered Moogs, echoey drums and breathy vocals. They just go for it. And for those who miss the old M83, they do throw out a bone or two toward the end of the album.

5. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! Damn, I listen to a lot of dark music. But Nick Cave can always be counted on for a solid rock album. In fact, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus and this album are especially good, as though Cave has found some late-career focus. His sources of lyrical inspiration this time around are the myths, religions and literature of the American South. The songs are leaner than they were on the last one, but the sound is bigger. Just about every track is a big one. I have a hard time picking favorites here, but I think I’m the biggest fan of the middle of the album (”We Call upon the Author,” “Hold on to Yourself,” “Lie Down Here (and Be My Girl)”).

6. Mercury Rev, Snowflake Midnight. Maybe Mercury Rev listened to their critics, who complained that the band had drifted too far from their noisy alt-rock origins into quirky pop territory. But I don’t think the critics could’ve predicted their response. There’s no guitar to speak of on Rev’s new album: it’s mostly sprawly, psychedelic electronica. Song structure seems to have taken a back seat here; in fact, the band skimped on the lyrics most of the way through. I guess you could have predicted this move by extrapolating from the Flaming Lips’ last record (also produced by Rev keyboardist Dave Fridmann), but Rev is less hippieish, more experimental. How long will their Peter Gabriel/Brian Eno experiment last? Probably not long, but “Snowflake in a Hot World,” “Senses on Fire” are undeniably Mercury Rev and unlike anything else you heard in 2008. Pretty incredible, really. I should also give a shout-out to Strange Attractor, Mercury Rev’s instrumental album which came out on the same day; its songs are more succinct and singleminded, but still quite similar in style.

7. MGMT, Oracular Spectacular. This Brooklyn band (whose name is short for “management”) escaped my radar for most of the year, but their second album has caught fire in these latter months, and I think they might be one of those inescapable bands pretty soon. You can tell they’re still growing and rough around the edges, and they’ll continue to get better. Definitely got the hooks already. It’s one of those quirky little indie-pop albums that grows on you (in case you didn’t notice, my recent edit of this post managed to sneak the album into the Top 10). Probably doesn’t hurt that the producer is the aforementioned Dave Fridmann, who has left his proggy prints all over this thing. By the way, you can hear the whole thing on their Myspace if you fiddle around with the drop-down menu on their player.

8. Magnetic Fields, Distortion. If you already know this band, the title of the album gives you all of the extra information you need. Stephin Merritt simply takes his usual batch of immaculately crafted songs and introduces them to Jesus and Mary Chain-style distorted guitars (in fact, someone – Merritt himself, maybe – called the album his version of Psychocandy). Sometimes the songs turn out shoegazer-ish and drifty (”Courtesans”) but most of the time they’re simply given some added punch (”California Girls,” “I’ll Dream Alone”). My favorite tune is the goofy opening track “Three-Way,” in which the words in the title are the only lyrics.

9. David Holmes, The Holy Pictures. Unless you’ve kept up on electronic music, you probably don’t know David Holmes. But he’s quietly assembled a big following on the club scene as well as crafted a couple of spectacular trip-hop/techno albums (most notably his debut This Film’s Crap Let’s Slash the Seats in 1995). And he’s parlayed his success into a steady gig scoring the films in the Oceans 11-13 series, not to mention a few other films that aren’t coming to mind just now. Anyhow, like M83, Holmes decided this time around to make a pop album with verses, choruses and vocals. Also like M83, his vocals amount to a pretty ordinary breathy baritone. But he gets some help. Holmes has definitely been listening to mid-80s post-punk and New Wave, and as a result there’s a little more substance to his work than on previous projects. I’m not sure if I’d say there are actual songs, but there are at least some focused mood pieces. And the album keeps getting better the more you listen to it.

10. Hercules and Love Affair (Andy Butler), Hercules and Love Affair. DJ Andy Butler is another guy who has had his fingers in a bunch of different projects. This one is pretty much straight house/disco music meant to be played on the dance floor. There’s a bit more introspection to it than, say, Chic or A Taste of Honey, but they’d probably just as likely open for these bands as Underworld or David Holmes. They just happen to be located in the middle of the red-hot Brooklyn indie scene, so there’s going to be some credibility by identification there. I guess I’d put them roughly in the same territory as Basement Jaxx: eternally straddling the line between “bad” dance-kitsch and “good” dance-kitsch. Of course, if you don’t care about good and bad, maybe you’ll just like ‘em because the songs are fun.

11. Goldfrapp, Seventh Tree. Alison Goldfrapp & Co. glammed up for the last album, Supernature. This album moves nearly in the opposite direction; its songs are more introverted and gentler, similar to the folky turn Dot Allison made last year, though not quite as extreme. Goldfrapp’s dark humor is still around: check out the song “Happiness” (and its video), for example…

12. TV on the Radio, Dear Science. I’m still waiting on this album to crack into my personal top 10. It’s settled here because I have a feeling it’s going to be one of those albums that (like Massive Attack’s Mezzanine) gathers dust on my shelf for a year or so before I slip it into the CD player and realize I love it. Dear Science is #1 of 2008 for Rolling Stone, Spin, the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, etc., etc. and I think I understand why… their work is skillful and edgy and there’s definitely a need for insistent indie funk these days. TVOTR capture the energy of the moment. But I still find myself playing around with tracks like “Golden Age” and “Shout Me Out” and wondering when I’m finally gonna crack ‘em.

13. Q-Tip, The Renaissance. Renaissance is right! Q-Tip hasn’t made an album in ages; I wonder how long he’s been working on this batch of tunes. He’s got a trend-ignoring funk/muzak thing going on, so really, some of this could be either several years old or from sometime in a weird-ass future. The funkiness, though, is undeniable.

14. The Bug (DJ Kevin Martin), London Zoo. Hmm… listening to British dub reggae now, huh? Well… yeah! This is a good set of tunes. The production brings to mind MIA’s album from last year, though this (like most dub) is about as downtempo as it gets. Don’t try to understand the lyrics! Just groove.

15. She & Him, Volume One. Zooey Deschanel’s voice is definitely untrained, and it rattles the headphones on occasion. But the songs are sweet, and Zooey and M. Ward make a great team. Turn the treble down a bit, take the edge off.

16. Tricky, Knowle West Boy. Wow. Tricky busts out of the gate as though the past ten years of mediocre albums never happened. This album is sensual and, at the same time, full of stomp and growl. Fantastic.

17. Fennesz, Black Sea. Christian Fennesz has made a career of experimental… uh, ambient, I guess. But even ambient usually has some sense of a beat. Fennesz prefers to drift. On this album, guitars fill the empty spaces instead of keyboards – as the title suggests, everything kinda washes over you in waves. It’s noise, but face it… you can get into noise.

18. Ladytron, Velocifero. Ladytron does moody ’80s pop – mix the Cranberries with Blondie and that might give you an idea. The new album is darker and more austere than ever (throw Depeche Mode into the mix?)… but there’s a subtle emotionality to what they do. Maybe New Order is the right comparison. I guess that’s one weakness of the band: their strongest appeal is in reminding you of a dozen other bands. But they’re catchy.

19. Sigur Rós, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust. Sigur Rós simply makes solid albums these days. Nothing wrong with that. Even though it doesn’t blow your mind, it’s definitely their most accessible album, downright bouncy in places. I don’t quite get the diehards who accuse it of being a Top 40 sellout or something. Get a grip. By the way, the boys from Iceland are as polite as ever: their Myspace page contains recorded instructions for pronouncing the title of the album and each of the songs.

20. Spiritualized, Songs in A&E. This album is definitely more varied than the last one: Jason Pierce alternates between lush and sparse arrangements and leans a little more toward his folk and gospel influences than his punk-rock ones, though that rough voice of his keeps it all balanced. This might actually be one of the top five albums of the year, but sometimes Pierce’s dirginess and sentimentality are hard to take in large doses.

21. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges. Some MMJ fans hate this album. Good thing I’m not an MMJ fan. I just like the variety of songs, from folk to psychedelic to funk to Americana. And really, you gotta see ‘em in concert.

22. The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Power of Negative Thinking: B-Sides & Rarities. Sorry, no tracks from this collection on their Myspace page, so you’ll just have to use your imagination. This four-CD collection is definitely not for the casual fan, but there are enough hidden surprises to make it worth digging around in if you get the chance.

23. SPC ECO, You’re Alright/Another Day. This is just a single, which is the only reason why it’s so far down the list. I looove this band’s sound. Put out a damned CD already! Somebody sign these guys! (by the way, yes, the name is pronounced “space echo”)

24. Girl Talk, Feed the Animals. This is one of many mash-up albums of popular songs, but this is the most ambitious one I’ve heard. DJ Greg Gillis piles on the samples, and the fun part is going back through and picking everything apart as fast as your pop culture recall can work. It’s kinda like a version of Paul’s Boutique for mere mortals: most of GT’s samples aren’t nearly as hard to identify, thankfully.

25. Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan, Sunday at Devil Dirt. As in the Gutter Twins album, Lanegan takes a back seat here, letting former Belle and Sebastian vocalist Campbell write the songs and take the lead on most of the vocals. It’s basic folk music most of the time, but the contrast between Campbell’s wispy soprano and Lanegan’s evil rasp is striking. I don’t understand why it works.

More:
26. The Raveonettes, Sometimes They Drop By, Beauty Dies and Wishing You a Rave Christmas EPs.
27. Autechre, Quaristice.
28. REM, Accelerate.
29. Mogwai, The Hawk Is Howling.
30. Santogold, Santogold.
31. KanYe West, 808s and Heartbreak.
32. Pale Young Gentlemen, Pale Young Gentlemen.
33. Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago.
34. The Dears, Missiles.
35. Al Green, Lay It Down.
36. Guns ‘n’ Roses, Chinese Democracy. (aww, what the hell, why not)
37. Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs.
38. Atmosphere, When Live Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold.
39. Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes.
40. Aimee Mann, @#%&*! Smilers.

Even more:
Frightened Rabbit, Beach House, Coldplay, Mission of Burma, The Roots, Shelby Lynne, Van Morrison, Kings of Leon, Shearwater, Lucinda Williams, John Mellencamp, Snow Patrol, Mark Kozelek, Beck, Gnarls Barkley, The Pretenders, Bob Mould, The Walkmen, Wolf Parade, The Black Keys, The Breeders, Erykah Badu

I’m ready to stop listening to you now:
The Airborne Toxic Event (WTF, dude?), Katy Perry, The Hold Steady (blah), The Verve, Moby, The Killers, Glasvegas, Vampire Weekend, Adele, Del tha Funkee Homosapien (man, what happened to Del? He used to be great), The Dandy Warhols

Missed in 2007:
Spoon! How could I have overlooked them?

Looking forward to in 2008:
My Bloody Valentine, SPC ECO, M. Ward (February), Massive Attack (spring), Doves (April), Jason Lytle, The Avalanches (spring), Garbage, U2 (March)

EDIT: Oh, snap! I knew it. I forgot Of Montreal. Where would I put them? Somewhere around 20ish, probably. They’re precocious, but I like them. God bless ‘em.

010109: official launch date

EDIT: Okay, we’re live. There might still be a few bugs here and there, but I’ll work on them.

Ed Mueller alerted me to Wonderside Publications, which sent the Writing Program a copy of Expository Elucidation. This 150-page compendium on thinking and writing, presented in disorganized yet intricate systems of space-impaired bulleted lists and boxes, could function as the world’s worst composition reader. And the best. Wonderside’s website gives you a pretty good taste of their design aesthetic. But don’t laugh it off just yet: this book comes to us courtesy of Dr. Brian Kevin Beck, a Wisconsin professor emeritus with a number of academic publications.