Salem Announce North American Tour

Just bought tickets to see Salem on their first visit to SF. Very excited to check these guys out live. If you haven't looked into them, I recommend you do. They made both my lists for Best Albums in 2009 and 2010. They make some pretty advanced music. Have a listen above (the music doesn't start until a minute in), or click here to hear "Redlights", one of my favorite tracks from them.

Tour:

03-15 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
03-16 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
03-17 Toronto, Ontario - Wrongbar
03-18 Montreal, Quebec - Le Gymnase
03-19 New York, NY - Santos Party House
03-20 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel
03-21 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas
03-28 San Diego, CA - Soda Bar
03-29 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex
03-30 San Francisco, CA - 103 Harriet
04-01 Portland, OR - Branx

Best Albums Of 2010

#1
BEACH HOUSE - TEEN DREAM

I always loved Beach House's sound, and adored their song "Heart of Chambers", but it wasn't until Teen Dream that I was really taken by them completely. Once hearing it, I found myself leaving the album on repeat the whole day for at least a few months. Calling it background music is an insult, because it's not, but the album sets an atmosphere and mood that is immensely satisfying and pleasant and tranquil and introspective. It doesn't demand your attention, it simply overwhelms you and creates a space you find yourself wanting to return to often.

#2
VAMPIRE WEEKEND - CONTRA

After such a popular debut album, I was very interested to see what Vampire Weekend's sophomore album would produce. Let's just say they're 2 for 2. The instrumentation is more sophisticated than their first album, with more layers and richer sounds. They evolve while maintaining their signature sound. If I had one complaint, it would be the track "Giving Up The Gun", which sounds like one of the songs a band records for an album, but ultimately leaves off because it's not that great and doesn't fit in with the rest of the album. Unfortunately, it makes it's way on the record. It's not that it's horrible, it's just mediocre and for some strange reason the second longest song, whereas every other song is concise and unique and playful and engaging. But I digress. Contra is a fantastic album that will always make me think of driving around Kauai with Junna in an open-top Jeep under blue skies and sunshine. Which is...pretty cool!!

#3
SADE - SOLDIER OF LOVE

She might be averaging only one album a decade, but they're always worth the wait. Soldier Of Love nestles itself immediately among Sade's previous masterpieces, bringing with it a bit more edge and attitude. Bath time just got a whole lot sexier.

#4
SALEM - KING NIGHT

Every time I listen to Salem, I'm reminded of the movie High Fidelity. In it, there are these two little punk skateboarder kids who get caught by John Cusack shoplifting a motley collection of records and a manual on how to record music at home. Later, he hears some music being played in his record store and asks one of his employees what they're listening to and is told it's a band those punk skateboarder kids formed called The Kinky Wizards. The music is an impossible mishmash of a century of sounds and influences, somehow coalescing to create a divine denouement for all of music ever. It sounds like nothing and everything all at once, with seemingly dozens of layers intricately placed and thoughtfully combined to form a new breed of song never before conceptualized, let alone heard. John Cusack's character is blown away and immediately tries to become their manager. Salem, to me, achieve in real life everything The Kinky Wizards are supposed to have achieved in the fictional High Fidelity. I get the impression many people hear Salem and think it is noise. And to them, maybe that's all it will ever be. But to me, it's something that can be listened to endlessly with a new discovery found every time. There is such precision and attention and detail in every second of sound. Musically, I admire their craftsmanship immensely. For me, it's as close to fine art as music gets.

#5
THE WALKMEN - LISBON

It's pretty hard to top a perfect album, and the last album from The Walkmen, You + Me, was perfect. Fortunately, they stuck with the sound that they achieved on that album here again on Lisbon, and while it doesn't come together as a complete album the way You + Me did, it does its best and gives us more of what we loved. "Stranded" is a particularly excellent track, utilizing heavily the lush horns that have to be some of my favorite sounds in music these days.

#6

KINGS OF LEON - COME AROUND SUNDOWN

These guys wisely stuck with whatever producer dragged them out of the backwoods and into the clean, polished sound that made them full-fledged rock stars with their last album Only By The Night. There's no doubt Kings Of Leon earned their stripes and are probably very much enjoying cashing in and being dressed in designer duds and dating model girlfriends. Everyone seems to love the music, so I guess it's a win-win. Plus, anyone who loved them before their producer-polished sound can now complain about how they used to like them before they sold out and became mainstream. So I guess that makes it a win-win-win. Nice job, guys.

#7
THE MORNING BENDERS - BIG ECHO

Considering The Beatles were so influential, you don't hear about all too many bands being compared to them. The Morning Benders, however, have just that fortunate distinction. It's not so much that they sound like them, but more that they're really excellent songwriters who love melody and are quite good at structuring songs. On Big Echo, the band goes for a bigger, wall-of-sound vibe with drawn-out breakdowns and slow build-ups interspersed amongst sing-a-long choruses and smart verses. A solid second album from the Bay Area boys.

#8
KANYE WEST - MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY

A lot of people have this as their number one album of the year. It doesn't hurt that Pitchfork gave it the extremely rare 10.0 rating. I've always been a fan of Kanye. I think he has very good taste in everything he does. I've always liked much of his music and this album is certainly the best collection of tracks I've heard from him. I guess it just comes down to the fact that I don't entirely care that much about rap or hip hop or whatever category this falls into. That's just full disclosure. I think it's an excellent album for what it is, and I especially love the middle section of the album. But there are also parts of the album that I absolutely can't stand. For some reason, rap albums tend to put these moments that might be compelling or funny once, but hearing it every single time you listen to the album or a track makes you want to smash your head against a wall, or skip the song, or just not listen at all. There are several moments like that on this album. For instance, Chris Rock on "Blame Game" going on and on and on and on about a woman's pussy for nearly three minutes. This is immediately followed by "Lost In The Woods" featuring Bon Iver, something that could have been genius, but is instead ruined by Auto-Tune, my single most hated trend in music today. On "Runaway", the big single that Kanye performed pretty much every single place he could prior to the release of the album, he writes a chorus that has lyrics so silly it's hard to take the rest of this gorgeous song seriously. Perhaps people love all this stuff. In fact, they probably do. For me, though, it limits my ability to listen to the album with any frequency, and when I do, I have to skip over these parts. There's a lot to love about this album, but there are some questionable choices that hold me back from considering it a perfect 10.

#9
ARCADE FIRE - THE SUBURBS

The thought I keep having when I listen to this album is this: It's just not important. Nothing about it really matters. Yes, they continue in their Arcade Fire ways, and keep the sound that they've always had. It's not like they tried to do something different and failed, they kept right on with the keepin' on and created an album that is probably what was to be expected. There's the urgency. There's the angst. But I guess it all seems a little going-through-the-motions to me. The lyrics don't move me, and I'm not entirely sure they even move those who are signing them. The fact that they titled the album The Suburbs should really say it all. It's probably the biggest cliché available to a band to complain about things like the suburbs and the numbing sameness of the sprawling emptiness of blah blah blah. With that said, it's far from a bad album. I obviously liked it enough to include it here. The music is outstanding and the songwriting and production are right on point. These folks know what they're doing. I just wonder how much it matters to them anymore.

#10
TEAM GHOST - YOU NEVER DID ANYTHING WRONG TO ME

Being a big fan of M83, I was excited to hear that one of the original members was putting out this album. It ends up, however, feeling more like an EP in that it's only seven tracks, and the first track is really more of a synthroduction than an actual song. There's also not much of a feeling of cohesion. None of this, however, detracts from the experience of listening to a collection of good songs, as long as you approach it with that mindset. "A Glorious Time", in particular, is an excellent pop song almost reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine. Several other songs sound a bit like Massive Attack. Each song ends up feeling pretty different from the next, and it seems like Team Ghost is more interested in just writing songs as they come to them than developing a signature sound and working within those parameters. Which is just fine.

Salem | King Night

Just finished listening to the newly leaked full-length debut album from Salem titled King Night, thanks to my illegal downloading friend over at The Sassmouth Chronicles. It is as good as was expected, which is impressive since my expectations were quite high. The ablum is a perfect continuation of the sound they developed on their debut EP. I heard hints of "Ave Maria" in the opening title track "King Night" and of New Order's "Bizzare Love Triangle" in the closing track "Killer". They've also incorporated a bit of "rapping" onto a couple tracks, as the kids tend to like such urban flavors. It's subtle and tasteful, of course, as you would expect from Salem. Definitely check this album out if you get the chance. Commence me listening to it non-stop for the next three weeks...............now.

Salem - King Night

Salem will release their debut album King Night on September 28. Click here to read my review of their EP and here to listen to their song "Redlights". I just discovered the genre of music they are being classified as (and being credited for creating) is called witch-house. Strangely accurate and fully amusing. Here is the track order for the upcoming album:

01 King Night
02 Asia
03 Frost
04 Sick
05 Release Da Boar
06 Trapdoor
07 Redlights
08 Hound
09 Traxx
10 Tair
11 Killer

Best Albums Of 2009

#1

JULIAN CASABLANCAS - PHRAZES FOR THE YOUNG

In lieu of a new album from The Strokes (which I expect we will get in late 2010) Mr. Casablancas pulled out his synthesizer and treated us to his first solo album. From the first teaser trailer for the album, to the artwork, to the merchandise, to the live show, to the songs themselves, no detail was overlooked. After my first listen, there was really only one song that I loved, but boy did I love it. "Glass" is easily one of the best songs Mr. Casablancas has ever written. Upon further listening, I came to realize two-thirds of the album is absolutely magnificent, while the remaining third have flashes of brilliance. "Tourist" is fantastic and similar to "Glass" in style and structure and is a song that I love more with each listen. The horns that are introduced at the end give me endless amounts of delight and pleasure. "Out Of The Blue", "Left & Right In The Dark", and "11th Dimension" are all pop song pleasures. Oh, and covering the SNL Christmas song "I Wish It Was Christmas Today" was a cherry on top of an already very sweet sundae.

#2
YEAH YEAH YEAHS - IT'S BLITZ

This album very easily could have been in the #1 spot for me. From start to finish it's consistently strong. The songs are well produced, concise and catchy. The only reason it falls to #2 for me is that although it is all those things, it hardly breaks new ground musically. It's Blitz is a really good dance-pop album that's lots of fun to listen to, but hardly blows my mind in terms of original songwriting. And I suppose full-disclosure is only fair–I really can't stand Karen O. So honestly the fact I've given this as much praise as I have really says something.

#3
SALEM - SALEM EP

Salem is dark and mysterious and fantastic to listen to while driving over the Bay Bridge at midnight. My initial response to Salem was that they sounded like a darker version of My Bloody Valentine. "Redlights" is probably my favorite track, and sounds a bit like a more subdued version of M.I.A.'s smash hit "Paper Planes". Their music is textural and dense with plenty of low-end and distortion, yet highly melodic. "Skullcrush" is another favorite, and probably best represents the direction I'd like to see them pursue. To top it all off, they do everything they can to remain as anonymous and underground as possible, which only helps adds to the intrigue.

#4
JULIANNA BARWICK - FLORINE

There isn't much not to like about this album. At the time I placed my order, it was only available from Julianna Barwick herself, and she mailed it to me from her Brooklyn home with a big heart around my name and a thank you. On top of that, the music she creates is entirely beautiful. Florine sets a mood similar to the one I find myself in while listening to Brian Eno's Music For Airports, one of my all time favorite compositions. From what I can tell, her music is primarily many layers of vocals, with some piano and strings, all utilizing a bit of reverb and moments of delay. It is ethereal and atmospheric and perfect to put on when seeking a calm space on a quiet day.

#5
PHOENIX - WOLFGANG AMADEUS PHOENIX

First of all, this album is not as good as everyone thinks it is. It is nice. It is pleasant to listen to. It is not, however, some breakthrough in music, and will most likely not be very memorable as the years pass. With that said, "Lisztomania" and "1901" are a delight, and every other song is pleasant enough to make putting this album on with some frequency an enjoyable experience. Ok ok, it's a fun album, but I can't help but think of it as a flavor of the month, not something that will be relevant in the future. With that said, I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

Salem For V Magazine

V Magazine offers a glimpse into the mystery that is Salem:

“I want the lyrics to be there, ’cause I want the song to be about a certain thing,” he explains. “But I don’t want anyone to know what that thing is. It’s too personal.”

“Me and Heather and Jack, we have these really ideal situations we would like to be in. To be lying in a big field with goats or butterflies. Or not butterflies, but, like, animals. Or in a big sandpit riding dirt bikes. We have all these ideas of things we would like to be doing because none of us are very happy.”

“I know how to think about these things but not always explain them,” he says. “But this song is about a boy. He’s on an island. And he looks out at the ocean. And the ocean wants to be a sea.”

♪ Salem - "Redlights"

This band was introduced to me by my impossibly fabulous brother, Connor. There seem to be several bands that go by the same name, so to be clear this is not the Israeli extreme metal band, nor the post-hardcore Florida-based band.

From what I can gather (details are almost non-existent; this is all based on word-of-mouth...from Connor) Salem is a three-piece based out of New York. They've only played three shows–all in New York–and there is quite the buzz about them in the NYC art scene.

My initial response was that they sounded like a darker version of My Bloody Valentine. "Redlights" is probably my favorite track (listen to it above), and sounds a bit like a more subdued version of M.I.A.'s smash hit Paper Planes.

For more images and sounds, visit Salem's MySpace page here, and perhaps you can Agatha Christie a few additional morsels of information from this mysterious, gorgeous-sounding group.

UPDATE: To read the Salem Pitchfork review chalk full of more details about the band, click here. To see their new video for the song "Skullcrush" about disposing of a girl's dead body click here. Happiness.