5.
These Arms Are Snakes
Tail, Swallower And Dove
Jade Tree

Seattle’s These Arms Are Snakes have delivered quite a gem with LP number three – and in this case it could be said that third time is certainly the charm. The record starts off with a swift kick to the shins via “Woolen Heirs”, with see-saw riffage ala Drive Like Jehu, arching up to a quiet/loud blast to the face. The synths as used in “Lucifer” are no stranger to TAAS. Though in the past the band has sometimes used them heavy-handedly (see their prior LP, Easter), synths take on a different role entirely here, contributing to the erupting din as opposed to distracting from it. So yeah, there is melody here – but not before it’s grinded down to dust. Chris Common’s blistering drumming, blurred and blaring synth lines and Ryan Frederiksen’s piles of guitar effects all add up to giant wall of wonderful noise. Vocalist Steve Snere sounds so focused, so raw with brutality, and then on a dime switches gears melodically or gets buried into vocal processing as on “Seven Curtains”. Tail, Swallower And Dove is pure cacophony and bliss. Sure, math core legends Botch are gone – but with their former bassist Brian Cook, TAAS are carrying the pocket calculator high for thought-provoking extreme music. This record leans into to the heavier side of Mogwai or the sludge of Torche, but has this aura of oddity that’s so refreshing. It’s heavy music for smart people. You want to be smart right? Then pick up this album.

4.
The Gaslight Anthem
The ’59 Sound
Side One Dummy

The hiss of a needle skipping its way into the start of “Great Expectations” perfectly introduces The ’59 Sound, a new record that sounds so familiar. After the first listen you’ll walk away humming “Young Boys, Young Girls” from the title track’s chorus, and it’s instances like that which explain in part the widespread interest in this band. Following the spiritual lead of seminal punk outfits like Jawbreaker, Avail and Hot Water Music, The Gaslight Anthem bring something punk rock has been sorely missing: music with meaning. It’s the perfect story of local boys done good. Vocalist/guitarist Brian Fallon’s gruff tone has been compared to that of another Jersey boy, Bruce Springsteen, which is kind of true – but there are worse comparisons to suffer, right? Overall, The ’59 Sound is a record the band obviously would have wanted to listen to themselves. Like an old beat-up car, it’s anthemic punk rock that’s not embarrassed of the rust spots.

3.
The Walkmen
You & Me
Gigantic

The Walkmen drop their pop semantics and return to form with You & Me, their fourth album of original material – (fifth if you count Pussycats , their Harry Nilsson homage). You & Me is what you’ll find me listening to at three a.m. after a bad night at the bar. It’s a dark, heady record full of despairing lyrics and misanthropic dirges. The Walkmen seem to have finally found their stride with You & Me; You won’t find another “single” on here like “The Rat” from their sophmore racket, 2004’s Bows + Arrows. Hamilton Leithauser - the seemingly boozy troubadour – spins tales of heartache, good luck and bad luck. This is an album in the truest sense of the word – you are meant to hear these songs in their intended order, in their entirety – not as cherry-picked results on iTunes, eMusic or wherever. You & Me just sounds so effortlessly vintage without pretense,  and that’s hard to pull off. With all their old-timey antics and depression-era aesthetic, The Walkmen have established their benchmark, and things will only get better from here on out.

2.
Radiohead
In Rainbows
TBD/ATO

It seems like only yesterday when I heard “Creep” on the local college radio station. The year was 1992; I was a freshman in high school and I couldn’t get this song out of my head. I went to the mall with my girlfriend, purchased Pablo Honey on cassette and listened to it repeatedly. And here we are now, this little “one hit wonder” band is “all growns up” with In Rainbows, their seventh album (yes SEVENTH, as in one number more than six). Radiohead turned the music industry on its collective ear by releasing this record digitally in August 2007 without the aid of major labels, offering it as a “pay as much as you’d like” download. This January they released a physical version of the record; I really was excited to purchase it, as it was released in a very forward thinking fashion: the CD packaged with low carbon footprint, merely a sleeve bundled with stickers for applying to a case of your own. This then let the band ship more CDs with less physical weight and minimal useless plastic.

Musically, In Rainbows is the Radiohead you know and love, sounding something like a healthy mix of Kid A being played though The Bends. Plus, we finally get the epic swooner “Nude” properly released after nearly ten years of bootlegs floating around. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” whirs around like a post-punk anthem, Phil Selway’s flawless drumming skittering in. Ed “the secret weapon” O’Brien reprises his role as backing vocalist that you thought was Thom. Jonny Greenwood displays more guitar and symphonic wizardry, while his brother Colin lays down the dirty bass. Thom seems happy, even though lyrically it sounds otherwise. “Video Tape” starts as a piano ballad and spins out into a depressing digital bath. It wouldn’t be Radiohead if it weren’t a tad morose, right?

You can tell the guys had fun making this record, because it shows. I’ve listened to In Rainbows over a hundred times this year, and I’m sure that number will be even higher next year. Without the shackles of a major label, I eagerly anticipate the future of Radiohead.

1.
Fucked Up
The Chemistry Of Common Life
Matador

By the time the flute intro of “Son The Father” bleeds into the humming, dissonant guitars starting their muted march, the listener realizes that The Chemistry Of Common Life is something different. Not since the polo horns that start the Gorilla Biscuits anthemic “New Direction” has an unexpected instrument seemed so fucking cool. It doesn’t end with horns either – bongos, banjos, and seemingly endless guitar overdubs help create one of the most important, if not THE most important punk record in years. Fucked Up has written a hardcore punk record on their own rules.

As far as hardcore, they even signed with a non-traditional label. One might think to find a Dischord or Revelation Records logo on ChemCom’s sleeve. Instead you’ll be surprised to find it’s on Matador – placing Fucked Up among the likes of Cat Power, Belle & Sebastian and Yo La Tengo. Regardless, The Chemistry Of Common Life mashes the likes of hardcore, metal, punk, shoegaze and indie, emerging with unbridled raw power and a record chock-full of anthems. “No Epiphany”, with it’s phasing keyboards, oozy ahh’s (complements of the Vivian Girls) and spacey riffs sounds more like Ride or early Oasis until Pink Eyes‘ guttural shouts belt in. “Black Albino Bones”, the record’s poppiest selection, is like a mash-up of Husker Du and Sheer Terror. “Twice Born” finds fellow Canadian Sebastian Grainger (ex-Death From Above 1979) delivering the call and response chorus “Hands up if you think you’re the only one / we all have our hands up,” a song seemingly designed for pile-ons and stage dives.

The first time I heard this album, I knew it was something else – something landscape-changing. We’ve needed a band to kick us on our collective asses for a while. I’m just thankful we have Fucked Up to thank for that.

Tags: 2008