Dirty Projectors - "Stillness Is The Move" (video)

One of my favorite songs of the year just became one of my favorite music videos of the year. Is it just me or does watching David Longstreth walk his llama through the forest make anyone else think of Atreyu and his trusty steed, Artax, from The Neverending Story? Maybe I just watched that movie too much as a kid. Speaking of watching certain movies too much, I'm also getting a serious LOTR vibe from the girls - they look like they just walked out of Lothlórien.

Top 10 of 2009 (thus far)

It snuck up on me, but 2009 is officially half way over. Since that is the case, I feel compelled to do what I did at this point last year: compile a list of my top ten albums of the year as it stands. There won't be any eulogizing on this list - I'll save that for December.

1. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

2. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

3. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

4. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!

5. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer

6. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns

7. Handsome Furs - Face Control

8. Alela Diane - To Be Still

9. Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

10. Japandroids - Post-Nothing

Björk - "Declare Independence" (live video)

I just stumbled upon this amazing performance of Volta's "Declare Independence" from Bjork's upcoming tour film, Voltaic: The Volta Tour. The film features footage of 2007 shows in Paris and Reykjavik. The video below was shot in Paris.

Brian Wilson - "Surf's Up (solo)"

For me (and I assume many, many others), summertime = the Beach Boys. They've been a constant in my life for as long as I can remember and may be the only band that I enjoy as much in adulthood as I did in childhood. Naturally, discovering Pet Sounds and Smile greatly aided in my continued appreciation. More specifically, Smile's "Surf's Up" has been my go-to Beach Boys song in adulthood. The title of the song is tongue-in-cheek - a sarcastic acknowledgment of the Beach Boys' image/reputation and, at least partially, a rejection of it. Brian and Van Dyke Parks (his Smile lyrical collaborator) wrote the song in a single night, and it was probably Wilson's most somber and introspective composition to date:

A choke of grief, heart-hardened I
Beyond belief, a broken man too tough to cry

Surf's up
Aboard a tidal wave
Come about hard and join
The young and often spring you gave
I heard the word
Wonderful thing
A children's song

This stark recording of "Surf's Up" that I have posted features Brian alone with his piano, and it may rival the official recorded version for primacy. Not least of all because Brian's brother Carl sang lead on the recorded version. Hearing Brian perform "Surf's Up" completely unadorned and at his peak is a moment with few peers. Although "Surf's Up" was written and recorded in 1966, it and the entire Smile project marked the end of the '60s for Brian Wilson. It also marked an end to the innocence inherent in Wilson's music.

Download MP3: "Surf's Up (solo)"

Yeasayer - "Tightrope"

Although "Tightrope" has been available for a while now as part of the Dark Was The Night compilation, I felt compelled to throw up a post about it regardless. Simply put, it's the best song Yeasayer has written to date and one of my top 2 or 3 favorite songs of 2009. While I can't deny that I'm drawn to the heartbroken sentiments in the song, the lyrics wouldn't be nearly as powerful without such a compelling sonic backdrop. The whole song has a trance like quality to it: a rhythm that simultaneously sways and marches and guitar immersed in a swamp of delay and reverb. The closest comparison would be Animal Collective's Feels, but "Tightrope" almost feels like a hymn with its sighing harmonies and repeated refrains of regret: "So, you're wishing that you never did all the embarrassing things you done?/And you're wishing you could set it right, and you're wishing you could stay the night." With a combination of affection and resignation, lead singer Chris Keating closes the song by repeating "oh, give and give and give it, until you just can't give no more" over and over until it becomes a hypnotic mantra.

Download MP3: "Tightrope"

A couple months back, Pitchfork rounded up The National, Dirty Projectors and Yeasayer to perform stripped down versions of their Dark Was The Night contributions. Yeasayer laid down a sparse, gorgeous version of "Tightrope" with only a banjo and melodica.

Animal Collective - "Summertime Clothes" video

Animal Collective recently released a video for "Summertime Clothes" (one of my favorite songs of the year). It was shot by their longtime collaborator, Danny Perez, and features Brooklyn's FLEX dance crew who appeared with the band for their Letterman performance. The dancers writhe around in sheets and giant, inflatable balls while lights throb around them. It's actually a lot cooler than that description sounds.

Heavy Rotation: Woods

Brooklyn's Woods succeed wonderfully at honoring their name: their music crackles with rustic, roughhewn beauty and audible grit. You can almost smell the pine. These songs would sound completely at home around campfires, in cabins or sweat lodges and, maybe, even Brooklyn lofts. I have had their latest LP, Songs of Shame, on heavy rotation all weekend and it's given me a serious itch to go camping. Anyways, all this evocation of forestry would be empty without some ace tunes and, obviously, Woods have got those. Opener "To Clean" perfectly encapsulates Woods' M.O.: ragged guitar, wobbly melody and sylvan ambiance. The languid "Rain On" is a bit more frayed around the edges and more endearing because of it.

Songs of Shame is out now on Woodsist.

Download MP3: "To Clean"
Download MP3: "Rain On"

The official video for "To Clean"