Of Note: ‘Show Me’ by Team Me

Of Note: ‘Show Me’ by Team Me

‘Show Me’ is another example of the modern pop I have developed an ear for in the past few years. 

Team Me demonstrates the same pop smarts that made Passion Pit and Phoenix so popular.  Their sound is a tad shrill, just like the groups I previously mentioned, but contains enough melodic structure and tone to snag the listener’s ear. 

It shimmers with a positive, driven vibe.

Indie-pop band, Team Me hit it big in 2011 in their homeland of Norway with their debut album, ‘To The Treetops!’.  It won Norway’s equivalent of a Grammy and was proclaimed by many media outlets in the country as the best debut album by any pop band.  By coincidence, they are also former touring buds with the group I featured in yesterday's 'Of Note': The Wombats.

The group released their follow-up, 'Blind As Night’ in 2014.  

Of Note: 'Progress' by Francisco the Man

Of Note: 'Progress' by Francisco the Man

Sometimes my brain goes on pause and I miss the wave.  But never you mind, for, where good music is concerned, time really doesn’t matter.

Swirling past with the dust of new wave legends like Modern English and Icicle Works clinging to their heels, Francisco the Man unleashed ‘Progress’ in July of 2014.  Their full-length debut followed in October, an effort that took the Los Angeles quartet seven, somewhat tumultuous, years. 

It was worth the wait. 

Their lead single, ‘Progress’ shimmers forth bringing to mind contemporaries such as Passion Pit and Phoenix.  It’s a great listen and guaranteed to get your inner Molly Ringwald bopping.  

Music 2012: Faves and Failures

So, best of lists?  Meaningless.  Best of?  Based on what?  What criteria?  Whose?  Why should we value a list compiled by a bunch of people who spent all year consuming (promotional copies) and commenting on our culture without ever contributing anything meaningful to it?  (Looking at you, A.V. Club.)  So I will spare you all the pretentious rationalizations and justifications typically accompanying such year-end lists.  My taste in music is no better than anyone else’s… it’s just different, and here diversity in all its forms is respected.  Instead, I will simply serve up a list of my favorites along with a few examples of music that I consider less than stellar. 

This was a crappy year for music.   I managed to find some good stuff, but the pickings were slim. 

I think I Heart Radio is to blame.  Everything they touch sucks.  They are the worst thing to ever happen to popular music.   There ought to be a law.  There is only so much pandering and homogenization that one can stand.  And as sad as the state of pop music is, what this conglomerate has managed to do to country music is a sin.

2012 was a year where we saw lots of bands attempt to sound like Passion Pit and Florence and The Machine.  We saw Owl City bounce back (for better or worse) from the sophomore jinx.  We saw a decrease in the use of Auto Tune (finally).  We saw Madonna grow harder, angrier, and more brittle (though her concert was visceral and bigger than life).   We saw dance music embraced by and incorporated into the mainstream more than ever.  fun. was fun! The Evens delivered The Odds.  And Santigold released yet another incredible album that not enough people listened to.  So, for what it’s worth, here is a list of my favorites along with the annoying and not –so-very-good.

By the way, pictured are all the albums I liked.  Frequently the text that appears beside them has nothing to do with the album shown. I wanted to get the covers out there, so sorry for any confusion.

Favorite Albums

Arrow: Heartless Bastards

Famous Milk: White Rabbit

Shields - Grizzly Bear

All three had me smiling, bore repeated listening, and gave me hope that the music industry was not beyond redemption.  I think all three were routinely dismissed or ignored by the critics, and that is a damn shame.

Incredibly Good and Worth Listening To

Channel Orange – Frank Ocean: Brilliant

The Odds - The Evens: As good as Astro, and just as necessary

The Haunted Man - Bat For Lashes: Loved it.  You will, too.

Tinsel And Lights - Tracey Thorn:  This is the perfect holiday album for people who have gotten “used to a certain kind of sadness”.  Her voice is Annie Lennox rich without the over-reaching.  

Coexist - The xx: I hated them on their last effort.  But this time, they blew me away.  A beautiful murmur of an album.

Astro – Astro: As good as The Evens, and just as necessary

Words And Music By Saint Etienne - Saint Etienne: Shimmering beauty

Vows – Kimbra: More shimmering beauty

Master Of My Make-Believe – Santigold: Best album of the year; weird and funky and fun.  Most creative thing out there.

Out of the Game -Rufus Wainwright: Have been a long time detractor.  He managed to wrangle in his love of excess, lack of structure, and desire to over-reach.  This time he got it right.

Slipstream - Bonnie Raitt: A veteran act that delivered yet another seamless work that encompasses all that she has to offer.

A Church That Fits Our Needs - Lost In the Trees: Quirky, fun, interesting, and lovely. 

Rooms Filled With Light – Fanfarlo: More Quirky, fun, interesting, and lovely.
Visions – Grimes: Still more shimmering beauty – sort of the album I had hoped Passion Pit would have made

Making Mirrors – Gotye: Nice chops.  Great songwriting.  Contains the best single of the year (fuck you, A.V. Club, you snarky bitches).

The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy – Nada Surf: As good as Astro and The Evens, and even more necessary, if something can, indeed, be more necessary, and on alternate days of the week, my favorite album of the year

Rather Disappointing

Gossamar - Passion Pit: I loved their last outing.  This one felt like they were holding back on me.  Still, they are the most influential band on the current music scene.  Their touch is to be found all over the radio.  They may not have reaped the rewards, but they broke the ground.

Shrines - Purity Ring: Liked their previous stuff.  This one struck me as shrill and trying way too hard.

Love This Giant - David Byrne & St. Vincent: Overworked, unworkable, and not working.  Two people who should never do anything together, ever.

The Carpenter - The Avett Brothers:  The ghost of John Denver hovers over this one like a shroud. John Denver is dead.  They are better than this.

Charmer - Amee Mann: Sorry, Amee – I am a HUGE fan and think you are a brilliant songwriter, but this one sounded like you phoned it in.
New and Number Ones - Kristine W: What can I say?  I love this woman’s stuff.  Her voice is amazing.  She works hard.  Her heart is in the right place.  I think she needs to come up with some big dough and bring in a few high-powered hired guns to breathe new life into her career.
Fanatic - Heart: I actually enjoyed this.  However, Red Velvet Car preceded it, and you can’t help but compare.  There are too many ballads on this one that don’t really work or say anything.  Heart seems to get stuck in this mid-tempo crap.  When they ROCK!  OMG.  They deserve to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, no doubt about it.  But, if they should decide to create something more – they need to forget that they are middle-aged women and remember that they are rock goddesses!  Don’t tread water – shred your amps!

MDNA - Madonna: So this topped the Billboard Magazine Reader’s Poll for top album?  A lot of gay guys must have participated in that poll. This is not a great album. This is not great Madonna.  It is only intermittently good Madonna.  She is better than this.  Harder and angrier we don’t want.  Drop the attitude and make me wanna dance, again.  Please?  Being accessible and likable is not a bad thing. Ice goddesses die alone.

Not Very Good at All

Cenitpede Hz - Animal Collective: Unlistenable, the absolute worst in a year when there was a lot of lousy music.

Sun - Cat Power: Horribly disappointing.  She is so much better than this.

I Bet On Sky - Dinosaur Jr.: More unlistenable bullshit.  Jerking off has never been soooooooo boring.

Release Me - Barbra Streisand: Should have stayed in the vault.  Really?  This treacle is the best that’s in there?  Then burn it all!  This collection serves up wonderful examples of why Barbra Streisand is both the greatest singer ever, and the worst.

The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do: Fiona Apple: Art songs?  I… whah?  No, really.  What?  Did you… I mean, this – it’s on purpose?  Fiona? What did a piano ever do to you to deserve this?  Not even Rufus Wainwright at his most pretentious is this bad.

Favorite Singles

Somebody I Used To Know – Goyte feat. Kimbra: Best song of the year (fuck you A.V. Club)

Titanium – David Guetta feat. Sia: Second best song of the year

Everybody Talks - Neon Trees:  This year’s Pumped Up Kicks (by Foster the People)

Very Good / Very Likable

Let’s Go - Calvin Harris Featuring Ne-Yo: I love warming up before a work out to this song

Dark Side / Catching My Breath – Kelly Clarkson:  Dark Side failed to catch on, but it is a great song, Catch My Breath can’t seem to catch fire, either, but fingers crossed

Anything Could Happen / Lights – Ellie Goulding: Lights has been around for a year and a half, but just completed 52 weeks in the top 100 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.  I have a feeling that Anything Could Happen will follow a similar path.

We Found Love – Rihanna feat Calvin Harris: Inescapable, and for a very good reason

Try - P!nk: I just like it.  The video is hideous, possibly one of the worst ever, but the song sounds like a song I vaguely remember liking, so I like it.

Take A Walk - Passion Pit: The album was a bit disappointing, but this song hit the spot

Adorn – Miguel: I continue to like this dude.  I can’t wait until he totally unleashes his inner Prince.

It's Time / Radioactive - Imagine Dragons: I like this band more and more.  Radioactive deserves to be a big hit.

Too Close - Alex Clare: The first time I heard this I didn’t know what to make of it, and now it sounds so average to me.  I still like it.

The A Team - Ed Sheeren: Sweetest song about a crack whore ever written.

Runaways - The Killers: Failed to catch fire.  But still worthwhile.

Madness – Muse: They still want to be Queen.   This came damn close to Queen lite.

We are Young - fun. feat. Janelle Monae: What a rarity.  They continue to surprise.  Great chops, great songs, interesting bounce.  Best new addition to the scene.

Thinkin’ Bout You - Frank Ocean: I was going to write him off as a Jamie Foxx wannabe.  He is so much more.  And way more interesting than Jamie Foxx.

Shake It Out - Florence and The Machine: No one, other than Passion Pit, has been more influential on the current sound that has developed.  She can’t sing, really – she sort of warbles; which on disc can be endearing and live can prove to be disastrous.   

Lonely Boy - The Black Keys: This was on my list last year.  It deserves to be here this year.

Earworms

Give Your Heart A Break – Demi Lovato: Hated it and then fell in love with it due to the lines: ‘The day I first met you, you told me, you’d never fall in love’.

We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift: That chorus.  Annoying?  Or Catchy? 

Call Me Maybe - Carly Rae Jepsen: Inescapable.  Inexplicable.

Feel Again – OneRepublic: Best Florence and The Machine single of the year.

Just Could Never Get Into

Ho Hey - The Lumineers

Little Talks - Of Monsters And Men

Tongue Tied - Grouplove

I tried.  I was there when they first came on the scene… but, I just could never commit my ears to what they were all about. 

Most Interesting Sample

I Cry (Piano in the Dark – Brenda Russell) - Flo Rida

Good Feeling (Levels by Avicii) – Flo Rida

I don’t like Flo Rida, but these song?  Radio candy.

The Bad

Back In Time – Pitbull: Normally, I like him.  I certainly would love to… him. He is a sexy beast. But this mix?  This nostalgia time warp thing?  Gawd Awful!

Home - Phillip Phillips: Awwwww.  Awwwwww.  No, really… Awwwwwwww.

Good Time - Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen: Worst song of the year.  Awful lyrics.  Insipid melody.  Produced with way too many Lucky Charms and elfin magic in the mix.  Fortunately for Owl City it was a hit.  Fortunately for everybody else?  His next single, Shooting Star is actually damn likable and will not bring on a case of the sugar-betes.

Drive By / 50 Ways to Say Goodbye – Train: Truly awful.  Okay, Drive By?  Worst song of the year (yeah, I know what I said already, but… really, this is awful).  And 50 Ways?  Drive By with some Spanish guitar and Tiajuana brass thrown in the mix.  Didn’t fool me.

The Jason Mraz Award for The Song that Hung Around Long After It had Worn Out Its Welcome

Not Over You - Gavin DeGraw: Over this.

Brighter Than the Sun - Colbie Caillat: I’d rather live in darkness (and silence).

I Won’t Give Up – Jason Mraz: Please, do.

WTF?

Maroon 5:  This is fine.  Pop music is fun.  Adam is a great guy.  But other bands are COPYING them – and there was not a whole lot that was original there to begin with – so just what is it they are copying?  Maroon 5 has basically warped themselves into a disco jukebox spitting out hits with amazing accuracy.

Train: Train now wants to be… Maroon 5?  Is this so they can retire on something other than the royalties to Drops of Jupiter and Soul Sister?  Why does this irk me?  Why do I care?

I Just Don’t Like Them

Chris Brown: One of the most repugnant people on the planet.  Haters don’t hate without a reason, dude.  Please gain humility and some professional help.

PSY – Gangnam Style: I don’t get it.  It’s just a dance song, and not a great one.

Toby Keith – Red Solo Cup: A total dick making a buck exploiting rednecks and red state ideology.  Shtick is getting old.

Enrique Iglesias:  What happened to this man?  Seriously, he used to make some decent music.  This year?  Crap, absolute drivel.

Karmin:  I saw them on SNL.  I’ve heard four of their songs, none of which are very good.  I see lots of gigs with a Casio keyboard at the local Holiday Inn in their future.  Remember that band Nu-Shooz?

Kanye West: Is this still a thing?  Really?  Hmmm.  Why does this irk me?

Best of Dance:

Don’t You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia Featuring John Martin

Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites - Skrillex

Midnight City - M83.

Levels – Avicii

Everything That I Got - Kristine W
Nothing really blew me away this year.  I found all of these engaging and likable.  Now that dance is such a part of the pop scene?  I was hoping dance artists would up the ante a little. 

Best Music of 2009, As Seen From the Bottom of a Rabbit Hole

So last Friday, I failed to post anything. I’d like to tell you that it was due to the Thanksgiving holiday, but the fact is I’m working my way through something and felt absolutely stymied. I was in the process of writing yet another true sex tale, but my heart was not in it. That’s because my heart and head are preoccupied with a bigger issue, one which I am still working my way through. Yes, I’ve been doing some flip flopping, and not just in bed.

The title of this blog is Wonderland Burlesque. The Wonderland represents the Alice in me, and in my current situation, it succinctly represents what it feels like to fall down the rabbit hole (oh, well, at least it's not a K-Hole). That is the nature of a quandary, and I am grappling with one that keeps morphing every time I sit down to write it all out. Just when I think I have a handle on it, some new fly in the ointment appears. So I’m still in the rabbit hole and I may just stay here a great while longer than I had hoped. I’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime: I will do what I always do when my passion for one aspect of my life is disrupted; I will focus on another – music.

Here is a run down of some the music that mattered to me in 2009. It’s a list that kind of focuses on the last half of the year, so there’s a bunch of stuff missing. For what it’s worth, here it is. I may add more later. Enjoy.

Best CD of 2009:

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix – Phoenix
This French band with its 1980’s new wave style obsessions captured my ears over and over again this year. And now even the good people at Cadillac are in on the scoop, using it in their most recent ad campaign for one of their overpriced dream machines – a Madison Avenue application that is pretty apt, since Phoenix spends most of their time operating like a dream machine on the ten sleek tracks that grace this CD. Roxy Music never ran so smoothly. For me, Fences remains the stand out cut, but there really isn’t a weak one in the bunch. They seemed to have hit the right chord in a year that was filled to the brim with acts mining a similar sound, but for my money – Phoenix takes the prize.

Maybe I was obsessed with 1980’s new wave style acts this year. Vintage synth bleeps and blurps seemed to dominate my play list. Runners Up for best CD (in no particular order):

Ocean Eyes - Owl City
Owatonna, MN has never been so cool. This CD burbles and burps like a super charged can of Fresca time warped from the late 70’s. Fireflies is an absolute delightful wonder and one of the best singles of the year. Flash in the pan? One hit wonder? Possibly. Yes, the CD is syrupy sweet, even bordering on the insipid, but Adam Young is a very clever man and a talented arranger. My advice to him: dig deeper.

The Fame - Lady Gaga
I love punchy pop nonsense. Can’t get enough of it. It’s a guilty pleasure and this CD is so stuffed with it I can’t imagine the number of Hail Mary’s I would have to say in order to be granted forgiveness. But the penance paid is so worth the price of admission. The hits bounced off this thing and landed so soundly on the charts that everyone has been exposed to the lunacy that is Gaga. The Madonna comparisons? I don’t get. Sure, she’s scrappy, clever and danceable, but so far Lady Gaga has yet to establish much of a personality. Image? Yes. Personality? No. All the costumes and marketing savvy can’t hide the chinks in her armor. There is something lacking. Even so, Bad Romance – from her newly released The Fame Monster is playing over and over again in my head. But I am thinking this stuff has a limited shelf life (like a lot of the really fun music from the 1980’s) and when I get over it, I probably won’t be revisiting it.

Manners - Passion Pit
If Adam Young of Owl City needs a push in the right direction, I am thinking this is the CD he should spend some time with. Passion Pit does a great job of balancing the ear candy by coloring it with something a little deeper. Granted, you have to really like falsetto vocals to enjoy this one, but one listen to the pulsing rhythm that powers The Reeling and I think you will succumb to their charms.

The Boy Who Knew Too Much - MIKA
Life in Cartoon Motion was great. The Boy Who Knew Too Much is better. Yes, there’s something very adolescent, goofy and juvenile about the whole affair, but it’s all rather charming. It’s refreshing in its goofiness, taking hold of your senses the same way Dean Friedman did once with Ariel. The hooks abound. There’s enough ear candy here to feed a nation of Willie Wonka golden ticket holders.

Best Singles of 2009
This was the year when 1970’s sunshine and recession infused fun returned to the charts, minus the icky aftertaste of exploitive media drama queens and gimmicky, fake rap violence.

Fireflies – Owl City
Funhouse – P!nk
Bulletproof - La Roux
Evacuate the Dance Floor – Cascada
Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Love, Etc. - Pet Shop Boys
Wild Young Hearts - Noisettes
Good Girls Go Bad - Cobra Starship
Panic Switch - Silversun Pickups
Already Gone / My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson
Just Dance / Paparazzi / Poker Face / Bad Romance / Telephone – Lady Gaga
Be Alright / Love is the Look - Kristine W.

And one that should have been a huge hit:
Never Gonna Break Up - Ryan Leslie
I remember where I was the first time I heard Hang on to Your Love by Sade. I will always remember where I was the first time I heard this song. Icy and hot with a groove that makes me want to nestle in closer and get real, real comfortable. A deep kiss that lingers long.

Shout Outs:
The Resistance – Muse
Swoon - Silversun Pickups
Day & Age – The Killers (2008)
Transition - Ryan Leslie

Guilty, Guilty Pleasures:
All I Ever Wanted – Kelly Clarkson
Funhouse - P!nk (2008)
Katy Perry – One of the Boys (2008)

The Very Worst CDs:

Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel – Mariah Carey
My favorite musical blow-up sex doll/punching bag got propped up yet again this year in order to fill the coffers of Def Jam. Unfortunately the backdrop features nothing but tired beats, milquetoast production and banal, sophomoric lyrics. Part of the problem, of course, is Mariah herself. No, I’m not referring to her non-existent voice (I bid farewell to her phenomenal vocal chops pre-Butterfly). I am referring to her desire to take control of the musical reins – a really, really bad idea. A large breasted plastic doll needs a lot of bells and whistles to create some excitement and drum up interest in this particular clotted market. A Mariah who is not being handled by someone with a firm vision is a Mariah who bores the fuck out of me.

Whitney Houston – I Look to You
Poor, Whitney. She flew back into the market with all the grace of a one-eyed, one-legged, one winged albatross. It was fascinating to watch. But push aside the embarrassing televised live vocal debacles and the squirm-inducing, ill-advised one-on-one interviews (Oprah! Yes, there is a reason you need to retire, girl!) and what remains is the comeback of the year CD that wasn’t. WTF? Filled with syrupy redemption treacle and mid-tempo, hook-deprived pop/hip-hop-lite sludge, Houston and Clive delivered one of the most colorless, lifeless, and boring CDs to ever see the light of day. This is a new, all-time low for Houston – and that is saying a lot if you remember her third CD, I’m Your Baby Tonight. She needed to comeback all vital and blazing hot, not enter politely and hand the world a Hallmark card. There’s not a drop of humor or genuineness to be found throughout the whole of this bland ordeal, which results in a piece of product so dull it barely registers at all. Whitney had a voice. Period. She was never a personality (unless you count crack-addled Whitney) and she has always been one of the worst performers live, ever (so stiff you’d think she was made of wood). But she used to be able to deliver the occasional sonic gem when properly packaged and handled (I loved almost all of My Love is Your Love). It all makes me yearn for the crack whore of yore. At least we caught a glimpse of a flesh and blood Whitney every time she’d bellow “Bah-Baaaaaaaayyyyy”. She looks to you? If I were you, I would just stare at your feet and hope she goes away.

Biggest Disappointment:

The Power of Music – Kristine W.
I love Kristine W. Buy every damn thing she puts out. Petition dance stations to put her stuff into rotation. Waited a lifetime for this one to come out. After the incredible, awe-inspiring heights reached on Fly Again, Power is something of a let down, to say the least. Sure, the dance floor burners are still in attendance and consistently hitting the top of the dance charts (Never, The Boss, Love Is The Look, Be Alright), but the remainder leaves me cold and reaching for the fast forward button. Nothing encapsulates what is wrong with this CD more than the truly cringe-inducing Not-So Merry-Go-Round – a song so poorly conceived, produced and delivered that had it come out in 1972 (the year of treacle and sap), people would still have gone into diabetic shock. Next single is the title track, featuring a lame rap by Big Daddy Kane and belatedly dedicated to Michael Jackson. Kristine? Honey? I’m sorry. It pains me to say this, but this is where I may need to get off the bus. Love you.

Artists I Will Never Listen To:

Miley Cyrus
Taylor Swift
Sorry. I just don’t care. I don’t get it. Never will. It’s not for me (nor was it ever intended to be for me). And does anybody else find Justin Bieber creepier than fuck?

Until next time...