Best Discoveries in 2009

Todd Rundgren - A Wizard, A True Star

AWATS is hands down the best thing I came across this year. I had been listening to Something/Anything? for a while and rediscovered it during my period of unemployment. Then someone recommended the follow-up and I was blown away. No other album has jumped as quickly into my pile of favorites. I'm also very glad my discovery of this album coincided with his tour where he played the album in its entirety. I've never cared much for Patti Smith, but in her review she declared that this album is "preparing us for a generation of frenzied children who will dream in animation." If only...


Van Dyke Parks - Discover America
Millenium - Begin

As far as Van Dyke Parks goes, Song Cycle gets the attention, but Discover America has gotten more playtime for me. Exploring the genre of late-60s chamber pop in the vein of Smile-era Beach Boys led me to plenty of great albums; above all, Begin is the one I cannot believe has gone overlooked for so long.


Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85

I had dismissed this album as too saccharine for so long, but I'm glad I finally came around to it. What a treat. So perfectly distilled and consistent, and not too far removed from the over-production of Rundgren or the orchestration of Parks. Another association I have with this is Destroyer's Your Blues, one of my favorite albums of the past decade. Although worlds away in tone, they both occupy a very specific niche on the music spectrum that, in my mind, overshadows anything within range.


Harmonia - Deluxe
Manuel Gottsching - E2-E4
Walter Wegmuller - Tarot

I made an effort to explore Krautrock beyond the canon of Kraftwerk, Can, Faust, Neu!, Amon Duul II, and a few others. Getting into Ash Ra Tempel was a big help, as I prefer the trippy rhythms and comic guitar that Ash Ra Tempel puts forth over the more experimental Krautrock of, say, Conrad Schnitzler. The transition as Ash Ra Tempel became Ashra and then just Manuel Gottsching was great to hear, as the end-point for Gottsching was basically arriving at a new genre.

I was familiar with Cluster but less so with another Neu! offshoot, Harmonia. Their debut album is interesting, but I find Deluxe more enjoyable. Its summer sunset cover perfectly suggests the ideal time to blast Deluxe as loud as possible.

Walter Wegmuller's Tarot is like a Krautrock SuperFriends double-album. And just to hedge their bets, they made it a concept album: each track is themed after a unique Tarot card. There are a few dull ambient moments to sift through, but the high points more than make up for it.


Robert Wyatt - Rock Bottom
Kevin Ayers - Bananamour

Soft Machine was something I found a bit ahead of my time. I'm not sure how I came across them, but I was really into their first three albums while in high school. I wasn't a music nerd then; I don't think I had even found the Velvet Underground or Pavement. At any rate, revisiting Soft Machine and further exploring the work of its solo members was a real treat this year.


Bill Holt - Dreamies

Arguably the biggest thing in music this year was about the Beatles, and the biggest thing on television was Mad Men. With the release of Rock Band: Beatles Edition, the remastering of their catalogue, and the death of Michael Jackson, it was a fairly good year for the Beatles. In the midst of all of that, I frequently listened to Bill Holt's Dreamies, an "auralgraphic experience" loosely constructed as an extension to "Revolution No. 9" from the Beatles' self-titled album. Over slow, Lennon-like guitar strumming, Bill Holt sings and occasionally interjects bursts from Beatles songs, as if your radio temporarily picked up a different station. Also sampled are speeches from JFK, LBJ, and news reports from the JFK assassination. For me, this coincided with Mad Men's third season, which took place mainly in late 1963 and (spoiler alert!) featured the JFK assassination heavily. Of all the great music that came out of that decade, Bill Holt's Dreamies seems like the one vintage looking-glass suited perfectly for use in 2009.

Kevin Ayers - Bananamour

Bananamour is ripe with Kevin Ayers' most mature and accessible compositions to date. Ayers grounded himself in a newly formed trio for his follow-up to Whatevershebringswesing. With bassist Archie Leggett and drummer Eddie Sparrow at the hub, Ayers selected guest artists for a handful of the tracks: Whole World colleague Dave Bedford ("Beware of the Dog"), Gong's new guitarist Steve Hillage ("Shouting in a Bucket Blues"), and former Soft Machine mates Robert Wyatt ("Hymn") and Mike Ratledge ("Interview"). "Interview" is easily one of the album's strongest, most original tunes, charged with a rugged, positively electrifying guitar sound courtesy of Ayers and psychedelic organ flourishes by Ratledge. And "Shouting in a Bucket Blues" is Ayers' inspired pop/blues groove. Armed with a few biting lyrics, the song became a concert staple, fronted by a number of well-known guitarists over the years including Mike Oldfield and Andy Summers. Hillage delivers heat in this original studio recording of the song; he went on to repeat the performance many times while in Europe with Ayers' Bananatour band, Decadence. The song "Decadence" is the album's centerpiece and towering achievement. Here, Ayers, Leggett, and Sparrow create progressive, atmospheric music quite unlike anything else on the record. An original, spine-tingling workout with potent lyrics concerning Nico, "Decadence" is a kind of superior foreshadowing to the following year's "Confessions of Dr. Dream" epic, which features a vocal collaboration with Nico on "Part One." The compositions on Bananamour emphasize the vocal aspects of the material; in fact, Ayers secured the industry's premier session vocalists to back him on the recordings: Liza Strike, Doris Troy, and Barry St. John. In various configurations, the trio fleshs out the songs, adding a compelling depth to the album that pleasantly expands Ayers' eclectic repertoire. In particular, they lend a gospel quality to the Beatles-tinged opener, and imbue "When Your Parents Go to Sleep" with rather soulful Ray Charles stylistics. Intended to break Ayers to a wider audience, Bananamour was his last release on EMI/Harvest before switching to a new label (Island) and a new manager (the influential John Reid, Elton John's manager at the time). The ideas on Bananamour, arguably Ayers' finest work, gave way to some very focused, full-fledged prog rock and blues numbers on his ambitious follow-up, The Confessions of Dr. Dream and Other Stories (Island Records, 1974).

(Kevin Ayers - Bananamour)

Kevin Ayers - Whatevershebringswesing

Melancholic and reflective, Kevin Ayers' third solo effort, Whatevershebringswesing (this time sans the Whole World as a collective), finds the ultimate underachiever languishing in a realm of ballads, free (for the most part) from the façade and pretensions of prog rock that plagued the previous project. Released in January 1972, Whatevershebringswesing was Ayers' most commercially accessible album to date. The opening track, the "There Is Loving" suite, was both apropos and deceptive. The song picks up nicely from the previous album, linked by its Soft Machine/prog rock sound and fronting the lyrics from the single "Butterfly Dance"; however, for the very same reason, this was a deceptive opener for an album that was far removed from the prog subgenre. In the interim between Shooting at the Moon and Whatever, Ayers gigged with his friend Daevid Allen's band, Gong, on a European tour, the results of which can be heard on the phenomenal Peel session recording Pre-Modern Wireless. Afterward, Ayers plucked saxophonist Didier Malherbe out of Gong momentarily to supplement the sound on his next album. The perfect substitute for Lol Coxhill, Malherbe and flute are a standout on the opener, "There Is Loving," with moving orchestral arrangements by Dave Bedford on the "Among Us" midsection. Initially released as a single, the album's highlight and concert staple, "Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes," is classic Ayers. While many outstanding guitarists have ripped up this grooving, occasionally aggressive blues/pop riff, Ayers himself laid down the guitar and piano tracks on this maiden recording. In line with Ayers' most appealing, successful compositions, "Stranger" and the majority of cuts on Whatever are uncomplicated and frank, allowing the listener to immediately step inside. Ayers' tunes may be light and semisweet, but he doesn't beat around the bush. "Oh My" and "Champagne Cowboy Blues" are exquisite examples of Ayers' ability to immediately pull in the listener via his lighthearted, slightly skewed approach. "Champagne" features the signature Mike Oldfield sound/style that would soon sell millions of records for him as a solo artist. Noteworthy are "Song From the Bottom of a Well" and "Lullaby." Intoned with darkness and foreboding, "Well" harks back to Soft Machine's "Why Are We Sleeping?" and foreshadows Ayers' Dr. Dream album, particularly "It Begins With a Blessing." But like much of the experimental material on his previous release, "Well" just doesn't build up to anything of substance. And the instrumental "Lullaby" (appropriately titled) closes the album on an odd note. Reminiscent of King Crimson's "Cadence and Cascade" (from In the Wake of Poseidon) and highlighted by Malherbe's fluid flute, "Lullaby" is an early example of new age ambience, complete with running brook in the background. Whatevershebringswesing falls short of the ambitious peaks found on Ayers' previous record; however, the material is much more consistent, focused, and devoid of that album's pitfalls. Ayers sounds comfortable and in his true element on Whatever, but like much of his post-'70s output, the compositions lack challenge. Whatevershebringswesing has often been cited as Ayers' magnum opus, but the term should be reserved for his follow-up, Bananamour, or even The Confessions of Dr. Dream.

(Kevin Ayers - Whatevershebringswesing)

Kevin Ayers - Joy of a Toy

As the Soft Machine's first bassist and original principal songwriter, Kevin Ayers was an overlooked force behind the group's groundbreaking recordings in 1967 and 1968. This, his solo debut, is so tossed-off and nonchalant that one gets the impression he wanted to take it easy after helping pilot the manic innovations of the Softs. Laissez-faire sloth has always been part of Ayers' persona, and this record's intermittent lazy charm helped establish it. That doesn't get around the fact, however, that this set of early progressive rock does not feature extremely strong material. Ayers' command of an assortment of instruments is impressive, and his deep bass vocals and playful, almost goofy song-sketches are affecting, but they don't really stick with the listener. It's no accident that some of the tracks recall early Soft Machine: Robert Wyatt drums on most of the songs, and "Song for Insane Times" is virtually a bona fide Soft Machine performance, featuring actual backing from the group itself. A likable but slight album that is at its best when Ayers is at his folkiest.

(Kevin Ayers - Joy of a Toy)