April Mix: Late Night With Abby

I’m sure you all know by now how much I love a good mixtape. That’s why I’ve become so deeply enamored with the Late Night Tales series of compilations by selected artists such as MGMT and Belle & Sebastian. I listen to these albums not like a regular album, but like a mix carefully arranged from start to finish, meaning I don’t usually skip through to a song I want to hear because it would compromise the integrity of the mix.

Sounds vary from one mix to the next, with really wonderful offerings of everything from mid-20th century rock rarities to modern day electronic tunes. It’s always a nice surprise to see what they’ve managed to fit in, such as when Air’s compilation included Jeff Alexander’s “Come Wander With Me.” It’s certainly not always what you expect, but it always works. Though there are many differing genres, there’s a particular vibe that flows from one Late Night Tales to the next. It’s hard to define exactly, besides the series’ requisite to be the “ultimate late night mix.”  So instead of describing it to you, I decided to make my own Late Night Tales-esque mix. At 23 songs, it’s perfect CD length, so if you’re like me, do the proper thing and burn these to a disc.

If you like it and are like “Heck! Abby’s Late Night mix is so good I want her to keep making more and more!” then you are in luck. Because there will be more in the future as the initial playlist I formed for my Late Night Tales mix had like 200-something songs on it.

Late Night With Abby: 1

Spooky – Cat Fight

Flying Lotus – Camel

Sergei Prokofiev – ‘Montagnes and Capulets’ from ‘Romeo and Juliet’

The Asteroids Galaxy Tour – Crazy

Little Bark – In the Forest

2011 in review: Mansquatch’s favorite songs (The Conclusion)

Songs 50-26.

And here’s the whole damn thing in a tidy, easy-to-use and scent-free Spotify playlist.

25. Crystal Antlers – By the Sawkill
In a year where we were dodged by new material from the Mars Volta (again!), we were lucky to have one of our many bands with a deer-themed name help fill the freak-out garage prog void. “By the Sawkill” takes you by the balls by opening with a frantic fuzz solo, and the screamed-out vocals make sure you never have a reprieve.

24. Diego Garcia – You Were Never There
A dash of flamenco guitar, some backgrounds borrowed from “Five O’Clock World,” and an impossible-to-forget chorus make for the most infectious song I heard all year.

23. Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose
Bad girls make the best songs. I look forward to hearing this in the next Tarantino movie.

22. Timber Timbre – Woman
Evil. Fucking. Tuba.

Oh, and some seriously great crawling piano, spooky slide, and inventive singing.

But mostly, Evil. Fucking. Tuba.

21. The Black Keys – Mind Eraser
On an album where Akron’s finest seem to be spending a little too much time polishing a Bad Company impression, at least the finale delivers the balance of hard blues and melodicism we’ve all come accustomed to from Monsieurs Auerbach and Carney.

20. SHIM – I Don’t Know Why
If you wonder where all the rock went in 2011, Seattle’s beer-swilling, steak-eating SHIM stole it. All of it. And then they splurged the entire lot on this 1:41-long nugget of speed-freakin’ Foghattery.

19. Legendary Oaks – Grace Underwater
Another well-kept secret from Seattle, Legendary Oaks builds a forlorn guitar-and-fiddle duet up into an electrified shuffle with awesome double-tracked singing and a killer country-stomp guitar solo.

Top Ten Of 2011: Amber’s Picks

2011 was a weird year for me. It was odd in general but it was especially strange when it came to music. If you’d have asked me eleven months ago what I thought my favorite records of the year would be, I would answer you with the utmost confidence, rattling off a list of records in what I assumed would be the order I would eventually rate them. Out of those ten albums, however, only four made my final list. This year was full of surprises, both good (Hey, O’Death! Pleased to make your acquaintance!) and not so good (I really did expect that Okkervil River disc to be the best thing I’d ever heard…) and above all else, it was certainly not what I thought it’d be.

1. Chris Bathgate – Salt Year

The moment I heard Salt Year, the latest album by Michigan native Chris Bathgate, I knew it was my favorite album of the year. Granted, that isn’t a huge compliment because I said the same thing about three other records (all of which appear on this list!) but when it came down to the wire, Bathgate’s won the battle royale for the affections of Amber Valentine. Why? Because Salt Year is a masterpiece, from the opening distorted notes of “Eliza (Hue)” to the fiddle that marks the close of “Everything (Overture)”. Salt Year is harsh. It’s brutal and cathartic and it perfectly encapsulates the misery of lost love years later, but don’t think that the album’s a downer. Everything on Salt Year is deliberately crafted, from the gentle horns on the heartbreakingly perfect title track to the washboard backbone of “No Silver.” The best part? I’m not the only one who has deemed Salt Year a masterpiece! Everyone from NPR to Paste has been raving about Bathgate which means that one of the best kept secrets in folk music won’t stay that way for long.

Chris Bathgate – No Silver

2. Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin’ On

The moment I found out that Timber Timbre, my favorite exports from the north, were releasing their fourth album this year, I was obsessed. From the instantly quotable refrain of first single “Black Water” (All I need is some sunshine too, you guys!) to the tongue-in-cheek humor of title track “Creep On Creepin’ On,” Timber Timbre’s latest is everything you’d expect from the creepy Canadians, and so much more. Without turning a cold shoulder on their minimalist macabre past, Creep On Creepin’ On plays out deftly and seductively. Think Leonard Cohen sings Sam Cooke songs on Halloween … Only better.

Timber Timbre – Bad Ritual

Abbytron’s Top 20 Albums of 2011

Chances are you’ve already seen tons of Best of 2011 lists already, but as a music blogger, I of course have to throw in my two cents. As usual, it’s been a phenomenal year for music lovers like myself, and I’ve spent all of 2011 digging into new releases like it’s going outta style. While I certainly didn’t hear it all, I heard enough to have a pretty good idea of what stands out ahead of the pack. So this is just a rundown of the 10 frontrunners (plus 10 more that vied hardily for those positions) that I believe should absolutely not go overlooked.

1. Noah Gundersen – Family
Okay, so technically this is an EP. But it’s seven songs long, which to me qualifies as full enough to make my list. I mean, as you can see, I’m ranking it No. 1, and if I had to acknowledge it as an EP, then I wouldn’t be able to include it on this list at all. And that, my friends, would be a monumental shame because Noah Gundersen’s music sounds like it was made by angels. So, I said screw it, this is my list and I’m leaving it on. The Seattle musician has a little masterpiece on his hands with Family — at times cleanly rootsy and others softly dulcet. He’s a young man, but his songwriting chops (not to mention his lyrics) are some of the most seasoned and professional I’ve ever witnessed.

Nashville – Noah Gundersen

2. Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin’ On
I don’t know what I can say about this album that I didn’t already say in my review earlier this year. Basically, if you’ve heard Timber Timbre before (especially the trio’s 2009 self-titled album), then you can rest assured that Creep On Creepin’ On is more of what you already know and love. As you can tell, Timber Timbre continues to grow and change yet still hold onto its brooding exterior through all its subtle evolutions from one album to the next.

Too Old to Die Young – Timber Timbre

3. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing
I’d heard of the Rural Alberta Advantage before, but it was this year that I fell in love with them. A lot of people have seemed unimpressed with Departing, the folk-rock band’s sophomore album. But it’s brought me nothing but joy, despite the tragic tales set forth by the pained vocals of Nils Edenloff. The fact is, these singable melodies about the darker sides of life and love have been occupying my ears nearly all year, and I’ve found I still can’t get enough.

Coldest Days – The Rural Alberta Advantage

Abbytron’s Top 10 Halloween Albums

We here at hearingade would like to wish you all a Happy Halloween! Being my favorite holiday and all, I’ve already posted a mix about ghosts and a mix about monsters, but there’s always more where that came from. That’s why, for this special day, I’m listing off my 10 favorite Halloween albums that I suggest you all hunt down and buy in time for your evening celebrations.

Sometimes one song just isn’t enough. Every so often, you’ll find an album that is just so packed full of Halloween goodness, you’ve gotta play the whole thing. This couldn’t be more true for the 10 albums I’ve selected. Get ready to be spooked, because these records turn the creep factor up to 11.

1. Jeremy Messersmith — “The Reluctant Graveyard”
This album is a spectacular pop treat for the cheerfully morbid freak in us all. It’s no secret that I am a gigantic Messersmith fan (that’s not to say I am gigantic, but that my love for his music is gigantic), and “The Reluctant Graveyard” is in no small part responsible. Yes, his other albums are also magnificent, but they aren’t about dead things. This is the only one that speaks my heart’s language (and, yes, I understand how disturbing that probably sounds).

Listen to: Organ Donor

2. The Alan Parsons Project — “Tales of Mystery and Imagination”
Any Alan Parsons Project album probably has its place in a Halloween playlist, but this one especially. “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” is a collection of songs based on the literary work of Edgar Allen Poe, a man who may as well be the holiday’s mascot. With musical renditions of “The Raven” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the album even includes a saga of five songs dedicated to “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Not gonna lie, it’s pretty amazing.

Listen to: The Tell-Tale Heart

‘Creep On Creepin’ On’ is ghoulishly good, duh

He gazes out from dark eyes buried within sunken, shaded sockets, his translucent flesh turned white by moonlight. Emerging from the viscous water of the bayou, he’s draped in coarse gray rags, wearing accessories of alligators’ teeth and nothing but swamp grime in his hair. The skeletal man is no man at all, but a ghost tormented in the Louisiana wetlands. A bony finger wrapped rigidly over his collar, he moans “All I need is some sunshine/ All I nee-ee-ee-ee-ee-eeed …” before vanishing back beneath the shimmering surface at the hand of his voodoo queen.

If you’ve never seen a picture of Taylor Kirk, then this is the Taylor Kirk you know. The lead singer of folk trio Timber Timbre actually looks more like a clean-cut kid from the country but we all know that at the heart of this Canadian crooner lies a southern spectre beat down with the blues.

He didn’t begin that way, but his lyrics hint he’s always been headed there. In “Cedar Shakes,” Timber Timbre’s first album, he was a country boy in a cabin, haunted, halfway between here and the netherworld. The sounds of spooks in the air loomed over guitar plucks and harmonica as though something from beyond could sense his morbidity. Those spirits began to possess his soul on the follow-up, “Medicinals,” and swept him away to the swamp by the time the band’s self-titled third album emerged. Now, on “Creep On Creepin’ On,” he’s settled into his fate, a soul forever cursed.

Kirk’s gluey voice is thicker than ever, sticking to each word from start to finish. The album’s three instrumental tracks fit well among the rest, but it’s the songs where Kirk broods over piano, guitar, horns and bass that make Timber Timbre so hard to resist. Every Timber Timbre song with vocals is the best Timber Timbre song ever.

The band’s musical style is cinematic. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if “Creep on Creepin’ On” worked as a “Dark Side of the Rainbow” situation with an old silent film like “Nosferatu.” As October looms ahead, there’s really no better time to queue up this record. The background shrieks and howls in “Too Old to Die Young,” not to mention the haunted imagery of “Bad Ritual,” make it ideal for Halloween time.

But we all know what this is really about. While Kirk rattles chains down a dark hallway, shrouded in a sheet and moaning, all you have to do is switch on the lights to reveal he’s just another sentimental man looking for love. Hiding behind the corpse of Buddy Holly, he pleads, “Please break this spell you have me under,”  on “Lonesome Hunter.” He resurrects some old doo-wop enchantments for “Woman,” where he asks plainly, “Why aren’t you moving with me yet?”

Withering under a voodoo spell or not, Kirk’s still got a lot going for him. He may have to bargain with women, “For a moment, can I just pretend you’re mine?” as in the bluesy penultimate track “Do I Have Power,” but he doesn’t have to make any bargains at all to make his records sell. They sell themselves. You should know. You’re about to buy one. And I didn’t even have to use magic.