The Albums Of The Year: Janelle Monae - The Archandroid

Don't make your end of year lists too early... I'm looking at you, well, almost everyone. I literally hadn't heard one note of Janelle Monae's The Archandroid until after Christmas, but I've listened to it twice a day every day since. Why? Because this record is so mindnumbingly immense, I've got to keep playing it to figure it out!

What is it, exactly? It's got more styles of music than you can shake a stick at. There's choral folk, party jammz, glossy Euro-electro, psychedelic soul, revved up rave-ups, and more - but it all hangs together somehow. Perhaps the best album to compare it to is The Avalanches' magnum opus, Since I Left You. That record was essentially a mix of hundreds upon hundreds of samples into a crazy mash-up. The Archandroid , on the other hand, plays with actual songs - building arrangements with real strings and brass and modern beats and grooves, but it's still a crazy mash-up too.

It is not the sort of record you expect anyone to make anymore. A big-budget, ambitious work that only gives a few cursory nods to modern commercial radio. Sure, Tightrope (which features Outkast's Big Boi, one of the benefactors of Monae) works as a boom-car jam, but you are going to find more orchestral fantasias and Joni Mitchell-eqsue chord changes elsewhere than you would follow-up singles.

At its heart, The Archandroid is a pop record, but it's one of those unique collections of indulgent creativity like you might expect from a Kate Bush or Os Mutantes or Van Dyke Parks. It's too early to say that Janelle Monae ranks anywhere near those folks, but she's sure making a big splash into the pool.

(It's impossible to pick a representative track from this album but I'm digging the weird cousin of Crystal Blue Persuasion called Mushrooms & Roses and the sorta-drum&bass sorta-Time Faster.)

Reissue Of The Year!: Dolly Mixture - Everything And More...

In this age of everything ever created being available at one's fingertips, it's still a treat when a beloved record gets a deluxe reissue, even more so when the band's collected works are almost impossible to find and/or afford.

So, hurray for Dolly Mixture and Everything And More. (OK, it is neither "everything" or "more" but it's more than has ever been available apart from crappy multi-generation tape dubs or internetted vinyl MP3 captures.)

In 1979, it wasn't terribly unusual for three girls to form a band, but it was uncommon to channel punk energy through a 60's pop style. Imagine a DIY Shangri-Las with more sass and (only slightly) less polish. And so, Dolly Mixture almost immediately floated between the tones of the time and pop classicism. That probably contributed to enthusiastic but small crowds at gigs - and to the absolutely miserable efforts of getting records out.

The band never put out a proper album and only managed four 45s (on three labels!) over five years. Perversely, they can boast a UK #1 single as the more-than-just-backing singers on Captain Sensible's wacko cover of "Happy Talk" (from South Pacific! - and try telling me they don't look absolutely adorable with him on Top Of The Pops) - as well as another big hit on the Captain's follow-up, "Wot." (As big aficionados of weird 80's pop, that meant I was a big fan of the Dollies long before I honestly knew anything about their own great work.)

Maybe those up-and-mostly-downs took the pure pop rush of How Come You're Such A Hit With The Boys, Jane? into increasing wistfulness as heard on Shonay Shonay but it might have simply been the maturation of the band from crushes to heartache too. Treasures like Everything And More simply reinforce Dolly Mixture's place in the pop echelon.

As the band began to wind down, they took matters into their own hands and released Demonstration Tapes, a compilation of almost everything they'd recorded to date. This long MIA record makes up the first disc of the reissue and packs in 27 fantastic pop songs. The rest of the package includes the major label singles, a handful of pre-break-up songs, and live tracks. Disc One alone makes for essential listening but the icing on the cake is the amazing Been Teen, a much bootlegged gem that finally saw the digital light of day. And if you take a gander at this crummy video footage, you'll realize just what a holy grail that a clean copy of Been Teen is! The hefty booklet relates the bittersweet tale of this unjustly overlooked band. Go and get this, pop kids!

Song Of The Year: "When The Sun Don't Shine" - Best Coast

"I just want to tell you that I always loved you." OK, not the most original sentiment, but when has a great pop song needed to be completely original? And face it, that's pure concentrated heartbreak right there.

I'm old and I'm jaded. I still love music but there are days when I've heard it all. And then there's a song like this. I had to pull my car over to make sure I could get the name of it on my phone. I don't remember the last time I had to stop what I was doing for a song... but I wish it was more often!

When The Sun Don't Shine was my introduction to Best Coast and I was hooked, even though I had to wait for the album to come out. (Another "when's the last time that happened" phenomenon!) Bethany Cosentino's vocals sound a lot like the young Neko Case but the overall vibe goes much further, like a Shirelles/Nuggets combo.

This plaintive gem is short and sweet. A handful of chords, just a few more words, and it's done - although it's not done with me.

The Year Wanes, The Lists Wax

The best excuse someone who runs a dormant music blog can make is... "I was too busy listening to music." Sounds airtight to me. But now that 2010 is almost over, it's time to ask the big question... "what's good?" Hang on, and I'll tell you!

Mo' Retro: The 2009 Top 25

Dear Blogheads: I got so hung up on my Decade lists, I realized that I forgot to carry on the old Poddish tradition of the year end lists. 3 months late, I now give you my most played songs of 2009.)

2009 ended up as a pretty great year for music, if you were bored with the same-old, same-old. (Of course, a lot of people don't bore as easily as me, so maybe it was a painful year for everyone else!) Apart from a few stalwarts like Camera Obscura, Neko Case, the Jaxx, and Superchunk (straight outta the "where have you been?" file!), there was a lot of newbies bringing the noise... although there wasn't much of anyone bringing the funk last year.

Without further ado, here's the list (along with my iTunes play counts... stat geeks, you know who you are). Anything with a link takes you to streaming audio at Blip.fm or you can just go to my playlist there to listen to the bigger batch of goodies.

1. French Navy - Camera Obscura (30 total plays)
2. What A Drag - Bear Hands (24)
3. Golden Phone - Micachu (22)
4. Plastic Bag - Navvy (22)
5. Sunlight - Tune-Yards (22)
6. To The Dregs - Wavves (21)
7. News - Tune-Yards (20)
8. Jealous Of Roses - Bibio (18)
9. Sticker - Navvy (18)
10. Count In My Head - Kids Love Lies (17)
11. Dead Lazers - Kap Bambino (16)
12. Blackjack Eddie - Violet Violet (16)
13. New In Town - Little Boots (15)
14. Never Turn Your Back On Mother Earth - Neko Case (15)
15. Fuzzy Felt - The Kabeedies (14)
16. Red Sign - Kap Bambino (14)
17. Sleepyhead - Passion Pit (14)
18. Fossil, I - Sky Larkin (14)
19. Antibodies - Sky Larkin (14)
20. Blood Gets Thin - Pete & The Pirates (13)
21. For You - Tune-Yards (13)
22. Raindrops - Basement Jaxx (12)
23. Satisfied - Esser (12)
24. Ode to Millers - Kasms (12)
25. Blinders (Fast Version) - Superchunk (12)

French Navy, if you haven't heard it, is an indie-pop girl-group gem. Here's a long-winded appreciation, from an earlier blog post. There's more about Navvy, Kap Bambino, Tune-Yards, and Bibio too!

I'll dig into some of these other musical biscuits soon.

Shout-Out Time!

The Fruit Bats (featuring my pal Ron Lewis on keys) were invited to participate in The Onion's AV Club's cover project. The AV Club created a list of 25 songs and once it's covered, it's no longer eligible to play.

The Bats lucked out by showing up early and getting their pick of all but one of the list. (Ted Leo was first.)

Here they are playing Hall and Oates' One On One.

Pity the poor schmucks who are going to get stuck with We Built This City, although, fingers crossed, it could end up being awesome!

Surveying The Soundscape

Maybe the Best Of The Decade lists took more out of me than I thought - or perhaps I'm now listening to everything with a much more critical standard, but I'm not feeling it with 2010 yet. There's been some decent stuff that's come out this year, but I haven't connected with much of it.

Best of the batch so far is the Lightspeed Champion album, Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You. and the new Quasi record which is much improved over the last couple of so-so efforts. I want to get excited about the Lonelady debut, since she has created some awesome singles in the past, but the best songs were recut and aren't as immediately brilliant.

I still need more time with the new Laura Veirs and These New Puritans discs too, but there's some good stuff within.

Here's some Lightspeed and Quasi for you to chew on while I mull over what to rant about next.