pacificlectic : concert reviews & eclectic music news

Happy 236th birthday, United States!

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So, here are my faves of the first half of 2012… and outside of the Top 5, it’s all kind of random order on how I feel today… it’s all bound to switch around by year’s end (click album art for sound samples):

Artist – Album (style)

1. OSI – Fire Make Thunder (glitch prog)
2. Fiona Apple – The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (jazzy pop)
3. Peter Mulvey – The Good Stuff (indie songwriter playing standards with a band)
4. Damien Jurado – Maraqopa (indie rock)
5. Celldweller – Wish Upon A Blackstar (electronica)
6. Sigur Rós – Valtari (ambient icelandic)
7. Emily Wells – Mama (chamber hip-pop)
8. Floratone – Floratone II (jazz)
9. s/s/s (Sufjan Stevens, Son Lux, Serengeti) – Beak & Claw -EP- (interesting)
10. Storm Corrosion (Steven Wilson & Mikael Akerfeldt) – Storm Corrosion (ethereal proggy departure)
11. John Zorn – The Gnostic Preludes (jazzy experimental)
12. John Zorn’s Moonchild Trio (Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn & Joey Baron) with John Medeski – Templars (noise rock)
13. Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 2 (drone)
14. The Chance Brothers – Growing Concern (indie rock)
15. Regina Spektor – What We Saw From the Cheap Seats (pop)
16. Ani DiFranco – Which Side Are You On? (folk pop songwriter)
17. Buckethead – Electric Sea (gentler instrumental guitar)
18. Bad Veins – The Mess We’ve Made (indie rock)
19. Cosa Brava (Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, etc) – The Letter (rootsy jazz adventure)
20. David Krakauer plays Masada Book Two – Book of Angels, Vol. 18 (Pruflas) (klezmer jazz)

I didn’t get a few that already came out this year (yet) and whatever “et cetera” that the cool kids are listening to these days; but they may make it to the list at the end of the year.

The 2nd half of 2012 promises to bring some potential great ones, too… a few more from John Zorn, Mike Patton & Luciano Berio’s Laborintus II, Ben Folds Five’s reunion studio album, Ric Hordinski’s Arthurs Garden (physical CD, though the download came out a bit ago), the Dusted debut from Holy Fuck’s Brian Borcherdt, Erin McKeown’s kickstarter, and I’ve heard rumors of a new Nellie McKay disc for the Fall.

Favorite concerts of 2012 (so far):

• Penn & Teller and Cirque’s Zumanity in Las Vegas, Jan 18th & 20th
• Secret Chiefs 3 in Eugene & Portland, Feb 6th & 7th
• Nellie McKay’s I Want To Live! in Eugene & Portland, Mar 2nd & 4th
• Puscifer in Portland, Mar 14th
• Seun Kuti & the Egypt 80 in Eugene, Mar 18th
• Radiohead in Seattle, April 9th
• Roger Waters presents Pink Floyd’s The Wall in Portland, May 22nd
• Beck in Bend, May 27th
  (click pictures below for review links)

~Dan – np: Celldweller – Wish Upon A Blackstar