AWmusic

The Floodlight Collective is the debut solo album of Deerhunter‘s Lockett Pundt (going by Lotus Plaza) and to many people, this has been a much anticipated album. Some tracks were released on the Deerhunter blog and they were met with giddiness (yes, GIDDINESS). And after hearing a track that writer Warren Ellis put on an 8tracks mix he put together, I became very enthusiastic about giving the whole album a listen. I contacted my editor from the bowels of…actually, I don’t know where the hell he lives. I always assume it’s a bachelor apartment with weird rantings scribbled on the wall in blood, pen or whatever he can find. Anyways, I contacted him about it and he got in touch with the good people at Kranky, who rushed a copy of the album to me.

I’m glad I listened to this album at around this time, where spring is starting to pop up. This is very much an album that goes well with sunlight and doing things like looking out a car window in the passenger seat. It’s contemplative, mildly nostalgic and sunny. I’m hearing all sorts of influences here. No artists in particular, but more of genres from different times. 60′s surfer music, 50′s crooners…it’s there if you listen close enough. The song Quicksand really makes that point stand out for me. I felt like I was on a fucking beach. The album also has it’s meditative moments too, such as the song I fell in love with, These Years. It twists and turns but the album never escapes those overexposed sunlight moments from your mind. Also an honourable mention should go to the song The Floodlight Collective for making me think of the science fiction movies I used to watch in the 80s.

Now that said, it wasn’t perfect for me. Three or four tracks in I was under the impression that I was listening to a male-fronted, down tempo version of Camera Obscura. There are some big differences between the two, but some of the sound was very similar and I found that the two brought up the same kind of visions in my head and while I love Camera Obscura, why should I listen to music that reminds me of them when I could actually be listening to them?. Another thing that kind of annoyed me about the album was that it just…didn’t seem to change that much. The vocals always gave that “singing in an empty auditorium with shitty acoustics” echo sound. No matter what the tempo of the actual song, I was still hearing the same inaudible ghostly moaning which for all I know could have been singing the contents of a grocery list. But what the hell, maybe that was the point.

In conclusion, The Floodlight Collective is a decent album, but is probably more appreciated by fans of Deerhunter than anyone else. It’s got a great sound and is clever, but I can’t help but feel that there should be more to it. put 2-3 songs in your spring playlist but any more than that and you might overdose on the sound.

Now here’s some music for you:
Quicksand
These Years
The Floodlight Collective

Next in the series:
Part 4: #1-25
#26 Teen Creeps by No Age (myspace/live)
I’m feeling regretful of not including Nouns in my list.
#27 Eraser by No Age (video/live)
Can be #26 (tied), both are equally good.
#28 Feel The Love by Cut Copy (myspace/live)
“All the girls I’ve known are crying” Conceited but catchy.
#29 Bare Feet On Wet Grip Tape by Chad VanGaalen (myspace)
Soft Airplane’s most accessible song.
#30 God? By The Dodos (myspace)
“Oh God, where’d you go?” Agnosticism at its finest?
#31 Ottoman by Vampire Weekend (myspace)
At least we got this song from a shitty movie.
#32 Beat (Health, Life and Fire) by Thao Nguyen With The Get Down Stay Down (myspace/live)
Upon listening to this track, I’ve become a big fan.
#33 Heart of Chambers by Beach House (myspace/video)
My favorite song off Devotion.
#34 Dying Is Fine by Ra Ra Riot (myspace/video-ep version)
Sounds emo without reference to this poem.
#35 Hitten by Those Dancing Days (myspace/video)
All girl indie pop bands ftw.
#36 Let’s All Sleep Together by Team Genius (myspace)
Orgies ftw. (All girl orgies ftw?)
#37 For Emma by Bon Iver (myspace/live)
This song is simple but captures the atmosphere of loneliness.
#38 The Modern Leper by Frightened Rabbit (myspace/live)
“You must be a masochist, to love a modern leper”
#39 Rabid Bits of Time by Chad Van Gaalen
Beautifully sung.
#40 Winter ’05 by Ra Ra Riot
This song makes Winter depressing. Sad in general.
#41 Agoraphobia by Deerhunter (myspace)
“Cover me, comfort me” is stuck in my head.
#42 Skeleton Man by The Evangelicals (myspace/live)
“When someone loves you very much, you’re fucked”
#43 Why Do You You Let Me Stay Here? By She and Him (myspace/video)
Fuck you Ben Gibbard!…oh I meant congrats.
#44 Move by Cansei De Ser Sexy (myspace/video)
Another catchy CSS track.
#45 Another World by Antony and The Johnsons (myspace/video)
Antony apparently doesn’t think much of us. Still beautiful though.
#46 Uncalibrated by Bridges and Powerlines (myspace/video)
This song puts the power into powerpop.
#47 Shut Up And Let Me Go by The Ting Tings (myspace/video)
The Ting Tings are a guilty pleasure.
#48 Poison Dart by The Bug ft. Warrior Queen (myspace/video)
My introduction to The Bug. I was amazed.
#49 My Year in Lists by Los Campesinos (myspace/video)
“Send me stationery to make me horny” Mail-sex ftw?
#50 I Hate Dell by Oldfolks Home (myspace)
Dell pissed off the wrong guy.

“Best song to play on a road trip”
#91 Constructive Summer by Hold Steady (myspace)
Me and my friends are like “constructive summer”?
#92 Ghosts by Ladytron (myspace/video)
Schizophrenia?
#93 House Music by Cadence Weapon (myspace)
Best song on Afterparty Babies.
#94 Creeper by Islands (myspace/video)
Video is odd.
#95 The Old Days by Dr. Dog (myspace)
“Let go of the old ones, we’ve got new ones.”
#96 Jodi by The Dodos (myspace)
Jodi my dear, this is a song you must hear.
#97 Battle Royale by Does It Offend You Yeah? (myspace/video)
A catchy instrumental for one of my favorite movies.
#98 I Wasn’t Made For Fighting by Woodhands (myspace/video)
They were actually made for dancing.
#99 Heaven (Narctrax Remix) by Health (myspace)
Health’s Disco has amazing remixes.
#100 Dawn Of The Dead by Does It Offend You Yeah? (video)
Critics hated on the wrong album.

Apart from the fact it has an obvious motorik rhythm and the song’s thrust is the perfect aural accompaniment to watching cars eat up the white lines in the middle of the road, this Deerhunter track manages to represent the essential dichotomy of travelling in a motor vehicle. The contrast between the moving world outside and still world within a car is significant, like a song called “Nothing Ever Happened” that has a lot happening within it.
Deerhunter – Nothing Ever Happened

Best Song From A Band Named After An Animal
Animal Collective – Seal Eyeing

Putting Animal Collective in this category may be a little too literal, but once again Animal Collective release an arresting stopgap EP between albums and the Water Curses EP will maybe seem like the ideal bridge between Strawberry Jam and Merriweather Post Pavilion when we have the benefit of hindsight, but beneath the aquatic bubbling sounds that introduce “Seal Eyeing” there exists a fragile reverberating piano odyssey made for moments of graceful meditation.
Animal Collective – Seal Eyeing

Best Song Influenced By Pet Sounds
Department of Eagles – No One Does It Like You

The ghost of “God Only Knows” echoes through this track but Department of Eagles deliver pleasing layer after layer of ornate sounds, which only reveal themselves fully after repeated listens. Like many of the tracks on In Ear Park, the rich production values seem to offer an opportunity to get lost in a world of detailed instrumentation, which is surely the intention behind the same techniques used by Brian Wilson, all those years ago.
Department Of Eagles – No One Does It Like You

Best Song To Contemplate The Fragility Of Existence With
Chad Van Gaalen – Rabid Bits of Time

Chad Van Gaalen sings about death on Soft Airplane, sometimes with cheeky abandon in chirpy sounding songs that are designed to get under the skin, but nowhere is the flimsy thread of mortality personified so appropriately than on “Rabid Bits of Time.” When Gaalen sings in his quivering voice, “No one knows where we go, when we’re dead or when we’re dreaming,” it’s like listening to someone telling you something you already know, but never really understood until it is disclosed as simply as it is here.
Chad Van Gaalen – Rabid Bits of Time

Best Song That Ends With A Whimper
Women – Black Rice

“Black Rice” clangs along like a lost art rock classic from a late 60s, which for once doesn’t sound like it is an amateur appropriation, reshaped and regurgitated into a diluted version of the original music that influenced its creation. Glockenspiels tinkle with the guitars to lead to a climax that never comes as the momentum abruptly ends with a limp strum, and after all the musical pay-offs that have become so commonplace it’s refreshing to hear a song that causes you to listen to its journey because it doesn’t conclude with a bang or a fade.
Women – Black Rice

#9 Ra Ra Riot – The Rhumb Line
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
This album is a tribute to drummer John Pike who died tragically and has left his mark all over this album having helped pen songs (perhaps even hautingly) like Dying Is Fine and Ghost Under Rocks. While Ra Ra Riot takes a much different approach to death, unlike Arcade Fire whom is all about being gloomy and sad, Ra Ra Riot celebrates the life of John Pike. This may bother people but even without looking at this album on a emotional album, it’s still one of the better musical albums. Everything is classically influenced and Ra Ra Riot is able to pull off the big band aspect to perfection. I have no qualms about giving this album a perfect score because in some aspects from top to bottom it’s a great album. I guess it’s not higher on this list because it’s not too far of what’s already been done and it’s a tad little bit repetitive.
Too Too Too Fast by Ra Ra Riot
Dying Is Fine by Ra Ra Riot
#8 Los Campesinos! Hold On Now, Younster…
Original Rating: 5 out of 5 Another top 10 spot to a big band, I feel as if I like too many of these big bands, however nobody quite does it like Los Campesinos! While Gareth has unique but rough vocals that many point to being annoying, Aleks balances it perfectly with her soothing female touch. The best part of this record is the song writing but it doesn’t hurt to have a wide variety of instruments being used such as the violin,glockenspiel and a variety of others on this septet. I think why I and others rate this album so highly is the uniqueness, no band is like Los Campesinos! They can make a record fun, thought provoking, while capping it off with great music. I understand that this album is a bit hit or miss though so not everyone is going to like it.
You! Me! Dancing! by Los Campesinos!
My Year In Lists by Los Campesinos!

#7 Why? – Alopecia
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Alopecia, the condition in where you are bald, in some cases without hair all over your body. In that sense being without hair is like being bare, and Yoni Wolf bares all on Alopecia. I actually had a problem listening to this album when writing this review. I found myself feeling depressed and that’s arguably what makes this album great. It passes on that emotion with ease and is my Rap album of the year (although I only check out a few records). Why? has moved onto more of a full band ensemble but at its core it’s a rap album with instrumental sections. No fancy beats or anything of that sort, just a high level of rap from start to finish and you’ll rarely find a rap record that is abstract and wide open as this. Yoni Wolf’s writing is downright brilliant and some of these songs are greater then words I could ever come up with. If you haven’t had a chance to listen to the record check out these tracks:
Fatalist Palmistry by Why?
These Few Presidents by Why?
#6 Vampire Weekend – Self Titled
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
2008 was a crappy year in general but not for Vampire Weekend. They’ve gone from blogger favorites to superstars. I remember listening to their Blue CD-R and thinking what a great band they were where the production values were absolutely flawless. With success comes criticism though and while I find their success may far exceed expectations, overrated is not a term I use to describe this album. Yes, somewhat African influenced, it doesn’t overdo and VW stays within what makes a great pop song while including classical influences where Rostam Batmanglij’s work is by far the most significant. Anyway while the actual official album was mercifully released with just two new tracks (albeit great ones) after almost a full year with the CD-R, it was still an album that went through extended longevity and that’s ultimately why I chose to give it a high score. It’s basically a pop album that has paved the way (or has other bands mirroring) for bands to use more African influenced music. It’s still a great pop album and Vampire Weekend themselves has showed that this album is no fluke. If you’ve heard their covers and some new tracks (like Ottoman) you’ll find that they maintain the high level that got them to the top while expanding their sound. (You can’t say that for a band like MGMT who just has people remixing their stuff).
M79 by Vampire Weekend
Oxford Comma by Vampire Weekend

#5 Fleet Foxes – Self Titled
Rating: 5 out of 5
I like to pat myself on the back as one of the first blogs to discover the Fleet Foxes outside of the Seattle area, who can honestly say they had White Winter Hymnal in their 2007 top songs list? Too bad it doesn’t mean anything when you have no readers. But I digress. The Fleet Foxes do have an folk/Americana style but their emphasis is on their tight vocals from all members. While at first I felt the #5 ranking was too high, going back to this album makes its undeniably difficult to do so. While this album is necessarily an album that fits together but song by song, each track seems to have countless effort in crafting the absolutely perfect vocals on each track.
White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes
Ragged Wood by Fleet Foxes

#4 The Bug – London Zoo
Rating: 5 out of 5
I was really happy to pick up this record by producer Kevin Martin. It completely goes outside of the music I normally like even though this album is more or less genre-defying. It’s an electronic album using influences from dubstep and and a large group Reggae and Grime vocalists. It’s hard to find weaknesses in this album as Kevin Martin’s beats are as daring and bring to light to the angst and anger without shoving it done your throat. A track like Jah War uses trip hop elements and reminds me a lot of the Machine Gun intro but of course being more significant in a track that clearly expresses the artist’s point of view on war. This has to be a lock for the Mercrury prize or at least it better me.
Jah War featuring Flow Dan by The Bug
Skeng featuring Killa P and Flowdan by The Bug
#3 M83 – Saturdays=Youth
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
The album starts slowly with You, Appearing but picks up with Kim & Jessie and doesn’t turn its back. It’s a dream pop album by nature using a variety of electronic elements that make you wish you were young again. It gives off a cool 80s feel without being overly cheesy (arguable on Graveyard Girl when the poem hits). However there are no mistakes or misses on this album, where can I ultimately fault it? It has some of the best songs of the year but the more I look into it, might as well just include the whole album (each song has an argument). Another level where this album works that many do not, it’s actually themed toward about being youthful, while that can be slightly annoying for some, it works with the song writing and actually feels like an album, a collection songs put together like a story and ultimately feeling like they belong together.
Highway of Endless Dreams by M83
Graveyard Girl by M83

#2 Deerhunter – Microcastle
Rating: None, reviewed by Christian.
I was forced by writers to check this album out. I’ve always know how talented Bradford Cox was by the few tracks I did check out but I guess I should’ve taken it a bit more seriously. It’s a bit tough as I’m still familiarizing myself with this album but I definitely agree that it should be held up with high regard. The album starts with with Cover Me (Slowly) an instrumental and works itself in a simplistic track Agoraphobia. This album actually progresses with each song, slowly building up toward a climax. Some of these tracks are straight up pop songs but while it is actually simplistic, it just doesn’t feel that way when Lockett Pundt, is repeating “Come for me, comfort for me”. Their experimenting is obvious but subtle at the same time. This album is flawless and while calling an album a pop record may be taboo, it’s more or less brilliant pop. It shifts a little bit toward the end being less pop and more experimental. It does this at a perfect pace, not in a rush just to shift gears to a new style and sticking within it’s own sound.
Agoraphobia by Deerhunter
Never Stops by Deerhunter

And FINALLY….

#1 Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight
Original Rating: 5 out of 5
I don’t know how serious I was when I said that Frightened Rabbit’s Midnight Organ Fight might be on the best albums of the year. Little did I know, many other people were thinking that too but it has been by far the most listened record of the year for me and that alone merits putting it in the first spot. Being a folk rock album, the key is the songwriting and Scott Hutchinson discusses things such as the absurdity in religion, sex for pleasure, death being overrated and loneliness. A lot of detractors say that it’s typical sad sappy indie rock boy banter but I don’t think it’s fair to dismiss this album as just that. In a way while at times where Hutchinson seems lonely and depressed, he surprises you a track with Head Rolls Off, shrugging off his death as no big deal in some sort of hopeful manner. At times he’s more angry like in Keep Yourself Warm, criticizing those who have one night stands while other times he’s just showing how vulnerable he is like on The Twist or admitting weakness like in The Modern Leper. It’s basically a complete album on human nature and encompasses all the feelings one can honestly have. It’s not one particular emotion but all of them battling each other (hence the midnight organ fight) once, where no particular thought prevails but it’s a mind where each thought is muddled with the other. Sometimes cute, sometimes just being fed up, it’s ultimately an album that will be a favorite of mine for years to come.
Head Rolls Off by Frightened Rabbit
The Twist by Frightened Rabbit