"There are oceans and waves and wires between us, and you called to say you're getting older..."

Cover illustration of Secrets magazine issue #1405, November 10, 1962

With the end of 2011, I've decided to take a break for a while. While my reasons for stepping away are not the same as those of online music-writing legend Mark Prindle, who also shut down his site this week, I can sympathize when he says that it just kinda stopped being fun. After three years of daily posts (barely missing a single day the whole time, a fact of which I am a little proud), I find that keeping this online journal of my music experiences has changed my connection to music. I need to step away for a minute and see if I can start enjoying music outside of the context of writing about it, and my guess is that I'll take at least all of 2012 to do this.

I'll leave all the entries up for random Googlers, and the MP3s will all stay active for at least a little while. I'd like to thank everyone who's read this blog - it's been a cool experience, but I think I'm going to spend a few months fully absorbing the new Guided By Voices record (and going back to a lot of great records I wrote glowing reviews of, which have been gathering dust on a shelf ever since). I may start posting again at some point as well. We'll see. And, because I'm a weirdo who obsesses over minutiae and symmetry, I'm ending my blog with the titular song that I started it with in November 2008. Bye, folks...

"Wires and Waves" by Rilo Kiley

In Stores Now: Let's Go Eat the Factory by Guided By Voices

Image from an advertisement for Bon Ami washing powder, 1932

I'll say right up front that I have no "distance" when it comes to classic-era Guided By Voices. Those albums were a big part of my life in that part of your life where things can be impossibly big. So a new Guided By Voices album, recorded by the full "classic" lineup (Robert Pollard, Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, Greg Demos, Kevin Fennell, and Jim Pollard), is almost too much of a thing to write about. Perhaps the most wrenching part of the experience for me is that I can really see the connection between Let's Go Eat the Factory and those albums - it's like the last fifteen years are irrelevant when these guys get together and make music.

Let's Go Eat the Factory seems to grow naturally from the last Guided By Voices LP - 1996's Under the Bushes, Under the Stars - which at the time was an unxepectedly dark, stitched-together, sprawling thing of beauty. Like that album, Let's Go Eat the Factory has a handful of perfect (and perfectly miniaturized) pop singles ("Doughnut for a Snowman", "The Unsinkable Fats Domino", "Chocolate Boy", "We Won't Apologize for the Human Race"), as well as over a dozen more surprising and wonderful pop experiments. Tobin Sprout's contributions are important here as well (as they were on Under the Bushes), including dense, droning rock ("Waves"), fragile ballads ("Who Invented the Sun"), and even a track that does the former and then suddenly the latter (the brilliant, two-faced "Spiderfighter").

The one development I see, though, is that Guided By Voices is not interested in delivering any "Anthems" with a capital A this time out, which is odd considering Robert Pollard's inspirations and instincts - Let's Go Eat the Factory has no "Official Ironmen Rally Song". As a result, this album comes across to me as the most direct tribute to Pollard's beloved Wire (circa 154) ever recorded by the band, flipping the switch between dark art-rock, delicate piano minimalism, and concise pop (it's a three-way switch, okay?!?) It's an inspired choice for Pollard and the boys at this point in time, but not an obvious one - the question is this: why wouldn't Pollard use the reunion media buzz to put out a more straightforward rock album for the curious masses? The answer is simple: because he's Robert Pollard and he doesn't care what anyone thinks. He's going to follow his muse - if this one doesn't hit the spot for you, there'll be another. Seriously, there's going to be another Guided By Voices album released in the next six months or so, titled Class Clown Spots UFO. Watch for it.

In the meantime, if you're an old-school Guided By Voices fan, there are moments on Let's Go Eat the Factory that will give you the chills. When the opening bass notes of "The Head" rattle Kevin Fennell's drum set audibly, when the high-harmony vocal comes in halfway through "Doughnut for a Snowman", when Pollard conjures the cynical, sneering ghost of John Lennon on "Hang Mister Kite", you'll feel that old lo-fi magic.

"Doughnut for a Snowman" by Guided By Voices

Top 50 of 2011: #1 The Double Cross by Sloan

Cover illustration by Gerald Gregg for Phoebe Atwood Taylor's Banbury Bog, 1948

#1 The Double Cross by Sloan (Yep Roc)

As is usually the case, I still stand by my original assessment of Sloan's The Double Cross (found here), but here's why I think it's the best record of the year.

By the way, does it mean that I am now officially an "oldster" because my favorite record comes from a band celebrating twenty years together? Possibly, but I can't get past the fact that Sloan is one of my absolutely favorite bands, and they put out an album this year that pushes its way into my Top 3 EVER Sloan abums (along with Navy Blues and Never Hear the End of It). That's right - I'm saying that this album is clearly better than One Chord to Another, something that most hardcore Sloan fans would find blasphemous.

Here's the deal, though - The Double Cross is the album that best shows Sloan as a collaborative team of talented songwriters. While the high points of earlier albums may have better individual contributions, this one blends the elements together perfectly, which must be a challenge when you have four distinct songwriters in the band (even when they've worked together for two decades). Each one does what they do best here - Chris Murphy chirps McCartney-esquely, Patrick Pentland sneers double-trackedly, Jay Ferguson coos over calliopes, and Andrew Scott drawls and meanders charmingly. And it just flows together end to end with a string of top-drawer singalong choruses and crunchy power-pop guitars. I know The Double Cross isn't an exciting choice for "Best Album of 2011", but, being completely honest, I can't put forward another album I liked better or listened to more consistently this year.

"Unkind" by Sloan

Top 50 of 2011: #5 - #2

Cover illustration of the owner's manual for the Pulsar arcade game unit, 1981

My top five contains albums that I've listened to countless times, but I doubt I'll be able to come up with something original to say about them. Time to use those "Original review here" links!

#5 Rolling Blackouts by the Go! Team (Memphis Industries)

With all that's going on in the world, how can it be that my Top 5 records of 2011 are all light pop fluff? I guess I needed music that makes me feel happy, and Rolling Blackouts can really "bring the happy", as the kids say. Apart from a stinker of an opening track, the latest Go! Team record mixes girl-group, J-pop, and shoegaze signifiers with pure sunshine to deliver yet another addictive sugar-rush of an album. (Original review here.)

"Buy Nothing Day" by the Go! Team

#4 Hit After Hit by Sonny & the Sunsets (Fat Possum)

2011 was also the year that I fell in love with Sonny Smith. Hit After Hit was the first thing of his that I bought, so it will probably always be my favorite. This is okay, though, because I don't think I'll ever tire of hearing this deliciously frayed-at-the-edges set of garage pop tunes. (Original review here.)

"I Wanna Do It" by Sonny & the Sunsets

#3 Cults by Cults (In the Name Of)

What? More frothy retro-pop? Not too surprising to see this one here, probably, because Cults delivered the hybrid of Saturday Looks Good To Me and Sleigh Bells that absolutely no one but me was asking for. A lot of people underestimated the level of craft behind Cults' tastefully "blown-out" beats, reverb-heavy girl vocals, and corny pop hooks - contrary to what most people say about this music being "disposable", I think that this one might stick with people and still be in circulation years down the road. (Original review here.)

"Abducted" by Cults

#2 Only In Dreams by the Dum Dum Girls (Sub Pop)

There are a lot of groups trying to do what Dum Dum Girls are doing right now, and, as a result, they got lost in the noise for some people (guilty!) But it was Only In Dreams (and, to a certain extent, the He Gets Me High EP that preceded it) that pushed their work to the next level. The difference? Well, for one thing, lead Dum Dum Girl Kristen Gundred knocked my socks off with her vocals on some of these songs. And the songwriting continues to improve without straying from that girl-group/dream-pop/garage-rock amalgam I love. (Original review here.)

"Bedroom Eyes" by Dum Dum Girls

Top 50 of 2011: #10 - #6

Illustration from the cover of Collier's magazine, February 25, 1933

Here's the top half of my Top 10 of my Best of 2011 list.

#10 Civilian by Wye Oak (Merge)

Every time I see a video of Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner performing one of her songs (or, in the case of her impressive performances for the Onion's AV Club, other people's songs), I'm very impressed with her charisma and magnetism as a performer. However, I don't think Wye Oak has yet made a record that fully capitalizes on Wasner's charm - there are moments on Civilian that are anonymously competent, but nothing more. However, the album really has some great moments, like the title track, and I can't help but think that Wye Oak's next release will be the one where it all clicks.

"Civilian" by Wye Oak

#9 Yuck by Yuck (Fat Possum)

Today's run-down includes a UK band mimicking American '90s indie-rock and an American band mimicking UK '90s indie - it's a formula that is working for me right now, not because I'm especially interested in derivative rehashings of sounds from my youth (I hope), but because these bands use these familiar sounds to deliver some sharp hooks and songwriting. London's Yuck gave us a self-titled album this year that recycled Dinosaur Jr, Elliott Smith, and Sonic Youth - an odd combination of influences, but i can't argue with the highly addictive results. (Original review here.)

"Georgia" by Yuck

#8 Dye It Blonde by Smith Westerns (Fat Possum)

Chicago's Smith Westerns may have done some things this year that revealed them as not-quite-ready-for-primetime teenagers (lackluster live shows, massacring a Tom Petty classic in a widely-viewed Internet forum, Belgian stage-collapse Twitter scandal, etc.) I'll admit that I've wanted to tell this band to "GROW UP" a couple times, but my affection for their dense and lovely Dye It Blonde hasn't diminished. Worshiping at the altar of George Harrison gets you a long way in my book. (Original review here.)

"All Die Young" by Smith Westerns

#7 Colour Trip by Ringo Deathstarr (Sonic Unyon)

And here's the flipside of the Yuck coin, a band from Texas that doesn't seem ashamed at all of their unconditional love for My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and Jesus & Mary Chain. I run hot and cold when it comes to shoegaze, so I wouldn't have thought that this album would worm its way into my brain the way it has, but it's a completely enjoyable listen end to end, with a lot of immediate hooks as well as a layered sound that rewards repeated listens. (Original review here.)

"Do It Every Time" by Ringo Deathstarr

#6 Mysterious Power by Ezra Furman & the Harpoons (Red Parlor)

I wish Ezra Furman's album had caught a little mainstream attention this year, but, because of delays in arranging distribution, the buzz around his previous record, Inside the Human Body had largely died down by the time Mysterious Power got an inconspicuous release in April. This album deserves some real attention, though, as Furman has continued to hone his incisive songwriting skills without losing any of his l'enfant terrible wildness. Mysterious Power is a compelling and intricate concept album about isolation, and it's probably my favorite of 2011's totally-slept-on releases. (Original review here.)

"Mysterious Power" by Ezra Furman & the Harpoons