Our favorite spring albums express a confusing mix of contrasting, extreme emotions, from ecstasy to horror, but the one sitting at the top of our list states a clear, bright vision about the present and future of pop music.
"Visions", Grimes’ debut album for 4AD and third overall, bristles with inspirational melodies and playful beats. Claire Boucher, the Montreal-based musician and producer behind the name Grimes (see also here), has the admirable ability to take in all sorts of disparate influences, from Cocteau Twins to Aphex Twin, and use them as ingredients for her unique, inventive dance-pop hybrid. Her ethereal falsetto soars over a troubled ocean of electronic pulses, digital beats and harmonies that come together to create a euphoric, transcendent sound. Grimes’ vision for a perfect electropop future takes shape and form in the glorious 13 tracks of "Visions", an early candidate for "Album of the Year".
Other notable releases that kept our hi-fi busy in the last couple of months included the self-titled psychedelic electro-pop debut of Edinburgh art school graduates Django Django, the ecstatic bedroom pop of L.A.-based experimental composer Julia Holter whose magnificent "Ekstasis" sounds like a Greek tragedy scored by Laurie Anderson, and the brutal sounds of two of Sacred Bones Records finest signings, our recent visitors The Men and horror-mongers Pop. 1280. The Men exercise greater control over their adventurous noise creations in "Open Your Heart", while also trying their hand successfully at more traditional rock songwriting, while Pop. 1280 go the way of The Birthday Party in a mission to create pure, post-punk sonic terror - a mission that we can declare accomplished.
Top 12 Albums
1. Visions - GRIMES
2. Django Django - DJANGO DJANGO
3. Ekstasis - JULIA HOLTER
4. Open Your Heart - THE MEN
5. The Horror - POP. 1280
6. Ghostory - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
7. Port Of Morrow - THE SHINS
8. Animal Joy - SHEARWATER
9. Clay Class - PRINZHORN DANCE SCHOOL
10. In Time To Voices - BLOOD RED SHOES
11. Last Words: The Final Recordings - SCREAMING TREES
12. Some Easy Magic - FUNGI GIRLS
Top 20 Tracks
1. Oblivion - GRIMES
2. Lazuli - BEACH HOUSE
3. In The Same Room - JULIA HOLTER
4. White Wind - SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
5. Default - DJANGO DJANGO
6. The Full Retard - EL-P
7. V∆! (Nightmare Fortress Remix) - BRUXA
8. You Are The One - A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS
9. Open Your Heart - THE MEN
10. Burn The Worm - POP. 1280
11. R U Mine? - ARCTIC MONKEYS
12. No Way Down - THE SHINS
13. Forever And A Day - GIANT GIANT SAND
14. Breaking The Yearlings - SHEARWATER
15. Brains - LOWER DENS
16. Jack the Ripper - JAPANDROIDS
17. Lost Boys - DEATH GRIPS
18. Sing Orderly - PRINZHORN DANCE SCHOOL
19. Cold - BLOOD RED SHOES
20. Doldrums - FUNGI GIRLS
Grimes - Oblivion
And here's one in tribute to the late, great Adam Yauch, The Beastie Boys' MCA:
Beastie Boys - Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun
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