Welcome to Buzz Bands’ corner of the Internet, where there’s always a song in the head, if not on the headphones, and probably a club to visit tonight. You’ll find news, reviews and previews here in the coming months, mostly Los Angeles-centric. You want to know about me? Have a cup of coffee and read the bio. Otherwise, bookmark and enjoy.
Oh, and Peorians, nothing against you. I’m one of you, after all.
At the beginning, here is the end — 2006 as filtered through Buzz Bands’ speakers. This week’s print column looked back on my favorite releases by Los Angeles bands. Here’s an overview without the geographical slant. The year brought an avalanche of good music, and, especially, great singles, many of which were found on albums that weren’t particularly deep. So here’s to the music that was long-playing:
1. Silversun Pickups, "Carnavas" (Dangerbird)
With all four of the band’s parts — fuzz-smitten guitarist Brian Aubert, frantic drummer Christopher Guanlao, insistent bassist Nikki Monninger and space-synth cadet Joe Lester — in their prime, all that remained was to harness the band’s power. Producer Dave Cooley (and mixer Tony Hoffer) delivered, toning down SSPU’s soft-loud dynamic while sapping none of the Silver Lake quartet’s explosiveness. The band’s long-awaited debut exhilarates with every guitar swell, with Aubert’s pinched vocals spewing out the artful dodges he pens as lyrics. Even for fans who’ve seen SSPU play "Lazy Eye" for six or so years, "Carnavas" is a revelation.
Video: "Well Thought Out Twinkles"
2. The Thermals, "The Body, the Blood, the Machine" (Sub Pop)
Fire and brimstone meets punk rock on the Portland, Ore., trio’s third album. Couching singer Hutch Harris’ apocalyptic rants in melodic, muscular guitars, the Thermals get in your face and inside your head about religion, politics and, quite possibly, your own shortcomings. Take it like a man.
Download: "Here’s Your Future"
3. Art Brut, "Bang Bang Rock & Roll" (Downtown)
Hilarious, dizzying slices of satire piled atop chunks of garage-rock guitar, vocalist Eddie Argos’ self-effacing stories were about the most smile-inducing gems on the planet in 2006. His "shout-singing" gives "Bang Bang" an Everyman appeal and makes you want to, well, go home and form a band.
Video: "Emily Kane"
4. Asobi Seksu, "Citrus" (Friendly Fire)
With James Hanna’s sheets of guitar noise as a canvas, this New York quartet breathes new life into dream-pop, fashioning a lush, and Lush-like, album that, unlike many in its genre, does not slip into redundancy of its impressive dynamics. Yuki Chikudate’s English/Japanese vocals deserve much of the credit; so does good ol’ songwriting.
Download, appropriately: "New Years"
5. The Coup, "Pick a Bigger Weapon" (Epitaph)
Front man Boots Riley shakes his metaphorical fist at all manner of political and economic injustices; you shake your booty at the Parliament-inspired grooves. This album has plenty of street cred, and its strength is that it’s not bogged down in self-absorption. Here’s hoping the Oakland rapper and his band bounce back from the horrible bus crash in early December.
Download: "My Favorite Mutiny"
6. The Format, "Dog Problems" (The Vanity Label/Nettwerk)
Power-pop these days doesn’t get more inventive than this: Crisp melodies, heartfelt lyrics and and a steadfast resistance to slip into the formulaic. Credit the songwriting of Phoenix pals Nate Ruess and Sam Means, as well as the spiffy production mapped out by Steven McDonald.
Video: "The Compromise"
7. The Hold Steady, "Boys and Girls in America" (Vagrant)
A soundtrack to staring at sawdust-strewn floors and walking through gravel parking lots, this is barroom rock for happy hour through last call. Courageously treading in the same sonic and emotional territory as Bruce Springsteen, "Boys and Girls" nonetheless stands tall on the strength of its own tales of heartbreak and disenfranchisement.
Download: "Chips Ahoy"
8. Cold War Kids, "Robbers & Cowards" (Downtown)
Shambolic as emotions laid bare can sometimes be, the Long Beach quartet’s music fuses stabbing rhythms with Nathan Willett’s keening to produce storytelling that sounds timeless. Seething with an almost gospel intensity, the songs insist you care about their often-forlorn characters.
Download: "Hospital Beds"
9 Viva Voce, "Get Yr Blood Sucked Out" (Barsuk)
The husband-and-wife team of Kevin and Anita Robinson take listeners through a spectrum of emotions on their fourth album, some of which shan’t be repeated on a family blog. Suffice to say there is plenty of spine behind this boy/girl pop, and it’s as capable of a slap to the face as it is a caress to the cheek.
Download: "When Planets Collide"
10. Editors, "The Back Room" (Fader)
A 2005 release in the U.K. that did not make it these shores until this spring, the album quickly established the Birmingham quartet as the cream of the Joy Division-informed crop, having for one album out-Interpolled the competition. Tom Smith’s stentorian vocals and his band’s driving guitars make this perfect anthemic fodder for freeway driving.
Video: "Munich"
The Next 15
11. Tom Waits, "Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards." 12. The Decemberists, "The Crane Wife." 13. Grandaddy, "Just Like the Fambly Cat." 14. Los Abandoned, "Mix Tape." 15. The Black Angels, "Passover." 16. Band of Horses, "Everything All the Time." 17. Neko Case, "Fox Confessor Brings the Flood." 18. Bon Savants, "Post-Rock Defends the Nation." 19. Cat Power, "The Greatest." 20. Twilight Singers, "Powder Burns." 21. El Goodo, "El Goodo." 22. Mogwai, "Mr. Beast." 23. Belle and Sebastian, "The Life Pursuit." 24. The Submarines, "Declare a New State." 25. Junior Boys, "So This Is Goodbye."
