Attention Deficit Delirium

The current issue of the Village Voice, which includes coverage of the 2009 Pazz & Jop poll.

My Top 10 albums list for 2009 (along with Top 5 songs) is included in the online results for the annual Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll. This past year many groups that could loosely be put under the Goth/industrial/darkwave umbrella captured my attention; specifically here, slots #1, 2, 3 and 8. I’ve been wondering when we might see a Goth revival in the mainstream, and given the recent co-opting of its image by the emo scene, the popularity of dark fashions and the return of post-punk and New Wave musical aesthetics, I think it might finally be due.

As anticipated, the Pazz & Jop 2009 results were compiled and analyzed by a site called Furialog to compare critics’ choices in terms of how they voted and how their choices compared with each other and rated in terms of the top ranked albums in the poll. With regards to how I compared with the overall critics pool in terms of centricity, I ranked #676 out of 692. (Usually I hit the Bottom 10; hey, I rose out of it this year!) What does this mean? Simply that my choices are very individualistic and not aligned with the mainstream, which is fine by me. While some of my choices are on major labels, they are not typical Top 40 fare. And isn’t exploring and exposing people to new things what being a music journalist is all about? It’s not just about what’s popular or a name brand; it’s about what each of us thinks is good.

Here are the albums that rocked my world in 2009. Video clips for each release are collected here.


1. APOPTYGMA BERZERK Rocket Science (Sony Germany) — Apop’s last couple of albums have leaned in a strong synth-rock direction that is a change in trajectory from their original EBM-based sound. While some long-time fans are allegedly unhappy with that shift, I’m enjoying it immensely. This album’s a bit angrier (fallout from divorce, concern over world affairs) but still catchy as all hell, and the guest vocal appearances from Good Charlotte’s Benji Madden and the Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer are interesting and apropos choices. (ADD feature on Apop here.)

2. FAITH AND THE MUSE :ankoku butoh: (Mercyground) — Inspired by Japanese folklore and art, the first album in six years from this dynamic dark duo is one of their best works yet. It combines their penchant for interweaving Goth, post-punk and folk sounds, not to mention Monica Richard’s occasionally ethereal vocals, and adding in a great new element: Japanese taiko drumming! Add a book and a DVD culling live and promo clips along with interviews, and you’ve got a delicious package to go along with the fantastic music. (ADD feature coming soon.)

3. EMILIE AUTUMN Opheliac [Deluxe Edition] (The End) — She’s the current darling of the Goth/dark music underworld, even though she would never label herself Goth. It’s not easy to categorize what vocalist/violinist Emilie does; suffice to say it is a mesmerizing, often aggressive collision of rock, pop, Goth and classical sensibilities spiced with lyrics about bipolar disorder, abuse, self-mutilation and more. You know, the happy stuff. She also puts on a wild show. (ADD feature on Emilie Autumn here.)


4. JOHN GORKA So Dark You See (Red House) — While Gorka is my favorite folk singer (I’ve seen him eight times in concert), I confess that I’ve fallen behind on his recent releases. When I picked this one up last Thanksgiving weekend, I found that he had not lost any of the charm, insight or whimsy that have characterized his work over the last 25 years, and he still offers a nice turn of phrase at pivotal moments. From delicate ballads to bluesy numbers, Gorka knows how to bring the pathos. And some funny.


5. LEAVES’ EYES Njord (Napalm) — The third album from this German metal ensemble (with Norwegian siren Liv Kristine at the helm) proves that they are still the best of the Goth/symphonic metal bands out of Europe. Fueled by passion and romanticism while walking the line between musical beauty and brawn, this larger-than-life album will transport you back into the age of the Vikings without the cheesiness commonly associated with power metal. (ADD feature coming soon.)









6. MUSE The Resistance (Warner Bros.) — Small group, immense sound. Inspired by George Orwell’s 1984, album number five from these British successors to Queen is as grandiose, epic and hard rockin’ as their last two efforts. The new wrinkle this time is the three-part, neo-classical “Exogenesis: Symphony” suite that closes the album and summons the spirit of Mozart. It’s no surprise that this super power trio was asked to open up for U2 last fall.



7. KRISTEEN YOUNG Music For Strippers, Hookers, And The Odd On-Looker (Tony Visconti Productions) — I hear that singer/pianist Young hates comparisons in relation to her music. Fair enough. Her manic, powerful, confrontational performance style — sample song title: “He’s Sickened By My Crude Emotion” — gives this album a special life of its own, enhanced by Tony Visconti’s buoyant production. (He worked with Bowie back in the day.) But if I have to be annoying about it, I’d say think Kate Bush on overdrive with Keith Moon on drums. And then some. Young’s piano-fueled fury is not for lightweights.

8. COLLIDE These Eyes Before (Noiseplus) — A long-time staple of the Goth-industrial underground, this L.A.-based duo finally unleashed a full-blown covers album. Yeah, many bands use this concept as a stop-gap release for when they’re out of ideas, but I feel like Collide got their rock back with this one, serving up engaging takes on tunes by Pink Floyd, Chris Isaak and The Beatles, among others. Plus there’s a great version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Tusk,” complete with marching band. (ADD feature on Collide here.)


9. DEAD BY SUNRISE Out Of Ashes (Warner Bros.) — Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington has concocted a solid side project. Meshing elements of pop, metal, punk and grunge, this album encompasses all of the anguished themes that the singer has brought to his main group, but with a refreshing variety of styles performed adeptly by a backing band that includes members of retro ’80s rockers Orgy and Julien-K. (ADD feature on Dead By Sunrise here.)



10. STEVEN WILSON Insurgentes (K-Scope) — The mastermind/frontman behind modern prog heroes Porcupine Tree, Wilson takes a more atmospheric, ambient turn on this solo album without losing the great mixture of intellectual ruminations and tasty rock riffs that have always characterized P-Tree’s body of work. Wilson proves that he can wield just as much power with a long, dissonant guitar or keyboard chord as he can with more complicated melody lines. (ADD feature on Steven Wilson here.)





Porcupine Tree in London, June 2009. Frontman Steven Wilson is second from left.

Without even knowing it, the masses have made progressive rock cool again. Not that it’s really called that anymore — check out my Grammy.com story “High-IQ Rock” for more on this — but groups like Muse, Dream Theater and The Mars Volta have managed to chart high, sell impressive units at retail and are luring increasing numbers of fans to their shows. One group that has consistently made great music in the “thinking man’s rock” arena — straddling the line between tuneful accessibility and intellectual artfulness — is Porcupine Tree, the two-decade old band fronted by founder Steven Wilson. While they certainly have their share of four and five minute songs that are easier to market (so to speak), their music on recent albums has become lengthier and the execution of their concepts more ambitious. P-Tree’s latest platter, The Incident, contains only five songs, the first of which is the 14-part, 55-minute title track. One might ask, “These guys are on the cusp of mass appeal, so why do that?” Because the rules of the game are changing, as Wilson explained when he sat down to chat with ADD.



Why is ambitious, epic music popular again?
It seems the climate is more open than ever for doing something ridiculously over the top and over ambitious and reaching for the stars. It seems like it’s OK to do that now. I’m so happy about that. I’m so happy that ambition in music is acceptable, but God knows for 20 years it was almost like ambition was a dirty word.

The limited edition version of Porcupine Tree's "The Incident". Lavish packaging to match their musical ambition.

Isn’t it bizarre that in this iPod, song shuffling, A.D.D. world that bands like Dream Theater, Muse and Porcupine Tree can find success given that some people can’t even listen to a whole record anymore?
You’re right, there is a paradox there, and I talked about this on my solo record [Insurgentes]. There’s definitely a very big negative and a very big plus about the whole download culture. The very big negative is the jukebox mentality — people putting their iPods on shuffle, it’s very easy to shuffle from one track to the next, the lack of artwork and the poor quality. But the plus side of download culture has been liberating music from mainstream media and commercial radio — and that whole MySpace and Facebook thing, where people can the just follow the dots, follow the trail to bands that they probably would never have discovered if they just had to rely on commercial radio and what major record companies are pushing. Because what we’re seeing is the death of major record companies and the death of commercial radio. While I see that there’s a negative total to the whole download culture, I can see that it has completely liberated music from that three-minute pop song straight jacket. It’s gone. It only really exists now in the very sharp end of the commercial, American Idol end of the market. It doesn’t really exist for album-oriented artists anymore. In fact, bands like Radiohead don’t even bother to release singles anymore, which is great because I’ve never been good at writing singles. I’m very happy to be liberated from a world where I have to give any consideration to selling myself in the space of a four-minute pop song. So what the hell, let’s go in the opposite extreme. That’s what I was thinking in a way [on this album].

Today it seems like many bands make more money through touring and merchandise, not albums.
Let’s not also forget what I’m saying. We’re not talking about the death of the album. What we’re talking about is the death of the album as a commercial commodity. In fact it’s probably fair to say that more people are listening to more recorded music now than ever before. I figure that probably more people will hear The Incident than any other Porcupine Tree album but it’s probably going to sell less, and that is simply because the music proliferates now in a different way. It proliferates on a greater scale, but if you look purely at the bottom line, commercial units sold, of course it looks like the music industry is dying. But I actually think it’s the opposite in some way — the music is reaching more people than ever before. People listen to music on the bus, on the train or when they’re jogging, because of iPods and the portability of music and the fact that it is easy to steal. Albums themselves are probably listened to potentially more now than at any time in history because you don’t have to buy them anymore.  [continued...]

P-Tree in white.

Why does a musician start making music? He starts making music to share it with as many people as possible. If he has any other motive, then he’s not a musician, he’s an entertainer. If he wants to be a star and wants to make money, that’s not a musician. A musician starts making music in order to share with as many people as possible. It’s a very strange time for music because the financial rewards are really falling away, but at the same time there are a lot of bands out there that are reaching more people than ever before because of file-sharing, and I think we’re definitely one of them. The fact that more people are coming to the shows shows you in a way that more people are discovering the recorded music, which is acting as the advertising to go and see the band live. It’s definitely not a great time to be making a lot of money from the music industry, but it is a great time if you’re ambitious and want to share music with as many people as possible.

What does that mean financially for a band like Porcupine Tree?
This is where it all falls down. We’re okay because we actually started before this whole thing kicked off. We had a good fanbase going into the 21st century, and we continued to build on that. If you’re starting out now as a band, I’m not quite sure how you do it anymore. You could share your music on the Internet, but you still need to give people a reason to come your website in the first place. So that’s the problem.