The Whites Stripes and Friends

The White Stripes closed up shop on Groundhog Day (February 2) of last year. They hadn't toured in a while and Jack was involved with at least three other projects. The good of the situation was that they never sullied their reputation and took the two piece band to it's most extreme. The bad, of course, was the loss of another great band who actually achieved a level of commercial success and was played on modern rock radio (for better or worse) that didn't sound like another rehash of Pearl Jam. A good reason for this was that there really was no connection between grunge music of the 90's and the Stripes, something which can not be said of 95% of the bands described as "alternative" during the last 15 years. I feel some good came out of the Northwest and the Year Punk Broke, but too many bands have made Nirvana and Pearl Jam their Led Zeppelin, and we know how that turned out in the 80s already. So who were the White Stripes influenced by? Here is a playlist of songs they covered and recorded, with the original artist recording followed by the White Stripes version.

My 2011 Listening Habits

I finally got a working turntable set up this year and have been enjoying spinning all the vinyl I have collected at garage sales, Goodwill, and new stuff as well. Listening to a record is a patient experience, unlike much of my listening today. It's great to concentrate on just a side at a time and not skip tracks to something more familiar or catchy. I have added quite a few LP's to my collection, but Pharaoh Sanders' Oh Lord, Let Me Do No Wrong got the most spins overall this year. Sadly, I haven't set up scrobbling for LPs yet.

I started the year off exploring American roots music. I often feel a lot of newer music that is classified as folk lacks the sense of danger, sadness, and honesty that was found in older field recordings and early compilations of the style. Honesty and a sense of foreboding always seems to come across in early folk songs that I enjoy as well as all other genres of music. This year, I listened to selections that Harry Smith compiled during the early '50s, which went on to influence many of the folk revival artists of the '60s. Smith himself was an interesting eccentric that seemed to have quite a few bad qualities, but it seems that without his compilations, much of this music would have been lost or forgotten. The Harry Smith Project reunited more recent artist covering favorite selections from the original compilations live. I especially enjoyed David Johansen of New York Dolls fame cover of Old Dog Blue, Nick Cave's John the Revelator, and Lou Reed's See That My Grave is Kept Clean. A side note in my reading about the original artists on Harry Smith's compilation was the sad tale of Blind Lemon Jefferson, writer of the last tune. His grave was lost and not kept clean for years, but now you can purchase vanity Texas license plate with his likeness on it. That's the real blues there.

Artists I have been a fan of released another set of strong albums this year. Radiohead continued to defy expectations with the excellent King of Limbs. The TV on the Radio release Nine Types of Light was less funky than Dear Science but added further songs to everyone's end of the world dance party play list. Wilco's The Whole Love reconciled their last few releases by doing some AM radio jams along with some crazy, epic kraut rock when needed. That first track is a killer. The Rapture's third release, In the Grace of Your Love reminded us that they are back on DFA and sounding as good as ever.

I bring my music collection to work with me ever day now, and that has allowed me to dig back into some albums that I haven't touched in a while. I have found that depending what I am working on on, I may not enjoy listening to new music. Sometimes it's comforting to hear what you already know. So earlier this year, I went back and listening to some R.E.M. bootlegs that had gotten an official release with deluxe editions of some of the earlier IRS-era albums. This was also influenced by the fact the R.E.M. was to release a new album this year. I'll cover my feeling on the R.E.M. breakup in another post, but it was nice to look back on the band in their younger days and pick out influences that I overlooked when In was younger that I now know and love (The Velvet Underground, Patti Smith, Wire, Gang of Four, T. Rex). I think it was a good time to end their run, and that Toronto show 7/9/1983 was really great.

Two other bands I care about went on infinite hiatus/split this year as well. One was The White Stripes. It's not surprising with how much Jack has been busy with other things that the Stripes were on the way out. I think it's great that they left a legacy of six studio records, never once embarrassed themselves, and stuck true to the diy vision they started with. The other band that went on infinite hiatus was Wolf Parade. Their third album from last year, Expo '86, was great. I love how the band combines the unique sythn melodies of Spencer Krug with the working-man guitar of Dan Boeckner with both having their own songs. I also have deep interest in all the Montreal bands these guys have been a part of over the years and continue to work with (Frog Eyes, Sunset Rubdown, Handsome Furs).

Beside Expo '86, the other album from 2010 I really got into was Warpaint's The Fool. On hearing the album, you can just imagine these girls out in the desert as the sun goes down, playing their haunting, brooding songs to the cacti that surround them. I really look forward to another release from these guys.

My favorites from 2011 are as follows:

Colin Stetson: New History of Warfare, Vol II
Stetson makes a "jazz" record using his instrument of choice: the bass saxophone, and basically that alone. The incredible part is how it was recorded. The liner notes say it was "captured entirely live in single takes at Montreal's Hotel2Tango studio, with no overdubs or looping, using over 20 mics positioned close and far throughout the live room. Guest vocals by Laurie Anderson and Shara Worden (My Brightest Diamond) are the only exceptions to this rule, along with one brief French horn that was multi-tracked." Most were recorded on the first take. On first listen, that is really hard to believe. Drum sounds, electronics patterns, and non saxaphone melodies seem to be found throughout despite their absence while the music is moving, and seems to be filled with dread. So, although the story of how this record was recorded is amazing, the music stands on it's own, with or without the knowledge about it's creation. And if you know the story, it an even more impressive work.

Tune-Yards: W h o k i l l
No, it's not lo-fi anymore. And yeah, it still sounds good. A great mashup of styles here, with amplified overdrive uke, looping vocals, and dubby beats. Mix that with the feral voice of Merrill Garbus and it's unforgettable.

Wye Oak: Civilian
I have a soft spot for two piece bands, especially when they don't sound overly minimal. This is dynamic folky dream pop at it's best. I had not heard about this Merge band before this record, their third release, so I look forward to going back and catching up.

Okkervil River: I Am Very Far
I hadn't really gotten into this band's early releases, but I spent some time with last year's True Love Cast Out All Evil by Roky Erickson with Okkervil River as the backing band, who are both from Texas. It sounds like the band segued to a much larger, more experimental sound from those sessions and created a dense, moving album.

M83: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Can it get larger than Saturdays = Youth? Yes, it can. Although the last album mined cinematic sounds of the 80s, Anthony Gonzalez went for all out aural overload. Bigger drummers, sythns, and loud vocals come from every corner and gladly make this a surprisingly double album with no filler.

WU LYF: Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
The most interesting bands are hard to classify. These guys have that. You have little to no idea what lead singer Ellery James Roberts is saying, with his Tom Wait-as-a-punk vocals, but you want to sing along. Anthematic and moving, isn't that what makes music? Just remember, dollar is not your friend!