2009: The Year in Non-Metal

In case you're keeping count, this is the 200th post on Entartete Kunst!

Before the year is gone, I wanted to leave you with 20 cool tunes that will not hurt your poor widdle ears. Here's a look at some non-metal stuff I enjoyed during 2009: pop, indie and art rock, hip-hop and what have you.

With the sudden lack of promos coming my way, I must admit that in 2009, I was not as adventurous nor as adamant about hearing musicians I didn't already follow. If it were not for friends with varying tastes, I might not have heard more than half of the songs on this list. So, let me take this holiday moment to thank all of my dear friends, not just the cool music-sharing ones. Even if I did not see you or even speak to you as often as I would have liked this year, I am incredibly grateful for your place in my life. Your encouragement and companionship during the jobless months and the quitting of the cigarettes (2 months and counting) have really helped me get through. Things aren't that terrible, but I long for time and funds to shed this hermit-like existence and venture back into the real world, where people are learning and growing and doing... I would love to hang out with so many of you awesome motherfuckers, I cannot keep count. I will surely see you in 2010. After all, it is the year we make contact.

1. "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Skipper Dan" (Internet Leaks, Volcano): Regardless of my strange burst of superfandom this year, this was the best guitar pop single I heard all year, a perfect example of Al's ear for hooks and a uniquely poignant look at unfulfilled potential that will resonate with anyone who works a shittier job than they deserve to be working.

2. Beirut - "The Shrew" (March of the Zapotec, Ba Da Bing!): On a split EP with himself (the other half of bedroom electro-pop, Holland, is credited to Realpeople), globe-trotting New Mexican Zach Condon took his wistful indie-folk project south, teaming with Mexico's 19-piece Jimenez Band for an unfortunately brief set of sad and dusty border songs.

3. DOOM - "Cellz" (Born Like This, Lex): Long Island's masked supervillain returned to lambaste the lazy status quo, his signature mush-mouthed wordplay matched with beats ranging from comically kooky to criminally complex, his laid-back indie rap venom given a suitably apocalyptic intro here by Charles Bukowski.

4. The Octopus Project - "Wood Trumpet" (Golden Beds, Peek-A-Boo): The Austin outfit stretched out a bit on this EP, curiously sounding more like a regular old indie rock band than ever, whereas this joyful, danceable instrumental (presumably an older composition) is the sort of thing that drew me to the band in the first place.

5. Phish - "Light" (Joy, JEMP): The planet's premiere jam band came out of hiatus and personal turmoil with an accessible pop slant to their proggy ambition, this tune an expert balance of rootsy groove and slinky spaceout, pensive and hopeful in equal measures... although I think overall I prefer the more eclectic bonus disc that came with the box set.

6. Eels - "Lilac Breeze" (Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire, Vagrant): Anything was bound to be a letdown after the career-defining majesty of Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, but E's reversion to the primal rawk-meets-tuneful folk of the Shootenanny! era felt unnecessarily slight, despite possessing a number of endearing individual moments such as this horny charmer.

7. Method Man and Redman - "Four Minutes to Lock Down (feat. Raekwon and Ghostface Killah)" (Blackout! 2, Def Jam): With only a few concessions to modern mainstream hip-hop cheese, Meth and Red's long-awaited sequel proved they still have the skills and interplay to leave most permanent duos in the dust. When they're joined on this track by two of Method Man's Wu-mates, it's pure East Coast kung fu brilliance.

8. The Most Serene Republic - "Don't Hold Back, Feel a Little Longer" (...And the Ever Expanding Universe, Arts & Crafts): The seven-member Ontario band long regarded as a mini-Broken Social Scene took its lush pop into loftier environs, boy/girl vocal harmonies melting into the grand dynamics of the collective, heard here at their most sprightly and stimulating.

9. The Mars Volta - "Desperate Graves" (Octahedron, Warner Bros.): A rare hot spot on the Texan outfit's lovely but uncharacteristically mellow fifth LP, this track redefined "power ballad" into a shuffling, nervous beast of prey. If Ced and Omar had mixed in some of the whirlwind punk-prog from their side project with Hella, Octohedron would have been a more well-rounded MV disc.

10. Kool Keith - "Black Lagoon" (Kool Keith Presents Tashan Dorrsett, Junkadelic): DJ Junkaz Lou provided some astonishingly strange beats for a decent set by the wildly fluctuating New York MC, who plays a "regular guy" character, one who's quick to diss or defecate on all that is wack, loves the ladies, mutters his own weirdo chorus hooks... no, Tashan's not too removed from most of Kool Keith's other guises.

11. Antony and the Johnsons - "One Dove" (The Crying Light, Secretly Canadian): I can pile adjectives between "Antony Hegarty's" and "voice," but I cannot adequately describe its eerie allure, nor why it's such an engaging presence among the British band's mannered chamber pop, capable of fluttering to majestic heights or plummeting to the depths of elegiac despair.

12. Bon Iver - "Blood Bank" (Blood Bank, Jagjaguwar): Justin Vernon's one-man band became a full unit on this EP, yet the native Wisconsinite still sounds blissfully desolate on all but the title track, a characteristically pretty folk number left over from the debut days that crystallizes the breathless intimacy of fresh winter love.

13. Asobi Seksu - "Familiar Light" (Hush, Polyvinyl): By stripping some of the swirling shoegaze production and occasional Japanese vocals from their winsome dreamscapes, the New York quartet revealed themselves to be fairly ordinary pop rockers, although not without an occasional celestial highlight like this one left in their bags.

14. We Were Promised Jetpacks - "Quiet Little Voices" (These Four Walls, FatCat): Young Scottish aspirants to the throne of countrymen Frightened Rabbit, these dudes quietly dropped an excellent debut of soaring, post-punk-flavored indie pop, announcing themselves with this driving single that portends a healthy career packed with giant-sized anthems.

15. Black Lips - "The Drop I Hold (feat. GZA)" (The Drop I Hold, Vice): After thoroughly enjoying a portion of their set at Pitchfork, I was disappointed by the Atlanta garage rock hipsters' ugly new album, with this odd blues-rap track the sole standout for me... although, when I heard about this digital single version featuring one of my favorite MCs, I was mighty pleased.

16. múm - "Prophecies and Reversed Memories" (Sing Along to Songs You Don't Know, Morr): Ever twee and cuddly, the Icelandic collective moved even further from its intricate electronic origins and edged closer to regular indie pop territory, eclectic instrumentation and genial vocal glee helping to assuage the repetitive nature of this still-enchanting single.

17. Azeda Booth - "Squall" (Tubtrek, Absolutely Kosher): The Calgary outfit followed their impressive debut of rich electronic shoegazing with a half-new/half-remix EP (available as a free download), the original material such as this expanding their alien pop template with shiny, clattering, cooing density.

18. Zombi - "Spirit Warrior" (Spirit Animal, Relapse): The addition of guitar to the Pittsburgh duo's synth/bass/drum setup didn't affect their spacy sound as much as one would guess, as their vocal-free compositions still evoke night driving in a sleek European sports car while evading a horde of grey Italian flesh-eaters.

19. mc chris - "Neville" (Part Six Part Two, mc chris LLC): If the Libertyville-bred rapper/comedian wants to distance himself from the nerdcore movement, tracks like this brilliantly irreverent, reggae-tinged homage to Harry Potter's botanist pal Neville Longbottom aren't going to help his cause.

20. Porcupine Tree - "I Drive the Hearse" (The Incident, Roadrunner): Never afraid of an ambitious concept, Steven Wilson helms his long-running prog ship into dark and modern territory, adding the electro-cool angst of recent Nine Inch Nails to his signature Floyd/Beatles/Crimson melange, ending somewhat peacefully on this tuneful happy/sad note.

And... oh, what the hell. Here is a complete list of every musical performer I saw during the lean times of 2009, in order of first contact. I'd like to say with certainty that I will increase the final tally in 2010, but we shall see. Happy New Year, gang!

1. Something Beautiful
2. Suidakra
2. Alestorm
4. Týr
5. Ion Vein
6. Circle of Fate
7. Azeda Booth
8. The Show Is the Rainbow
9. J+J+J
10. Intronaut
11. Kylesa
12. Mastodon
13. Blackguard
14. Moonsorrow
15. Primordial
16. Korpiklaani
17. Kiuas
18. Earthen Grave
19. Dope
20. Luna Mortis
21. Gwynbleidd
22. Sheephead
23. Novembers Doom (x2)
24. Perzonal War
25. The Norwegian Beatles
26. Mr. Blotto (x2)
27. The Killdares
28. Seven Nations
29. Massed Bands (23rd annual Scottish Festival & Highland Games closing ceremonies)
30. Eddie Money
31. Fucked Up
32. The Antlers
33. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
34. Bowerbirds
35. Ponytail
36. Yeasayer
37. DOOM
38. Beirut
39. Matt & Kim
40. The Black Lips
41. The National
42. Phish
43. District 54 Orchestra
44. Scott Wesley Band
45. FOX
46. K. Michaels Band
47. Joe Walega's Happy Hearts
48. Blownload
49. Revolting Cocks
50. Hildur Guðnadóttir
51. Sin Fang Bous
52. múm
53. Sacred Dawn
54. Woods of Ypres

2009: The Year in Metal, Part I

It's that time of year, when I suddenly spring to life and unleash a flurry of year-end musical retrospectives. Without the added influence of work-related listening, 2009 found me exploring a lot fewer unfamiliar acts, and this meant I heard a lot more metal in proportion to other types of music. Thankfully, I like lots of different types of metal.

Let's start with my first look back at the loud n' proud offerings of 2009. You'll find world-famous legends and underground upstarts, classy artistes and crass workmen, beguiling melodies and punishing beatdowns, ancient warchants and future madrigals. I like all of these songs, and if you give them a chance, I'm sure you'll find something to like about at least one of them. Labels listed are the U.S. distributor, unless there isn't one.

1. Dethklok - "Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" (Dethalbum II, Williams Street): The stars of Adult Swim's animated gorefest "Metalocalypse" — the Archies of the '00s — bested sales of their first disc and retained claim to the highest-charting extreme metal album of all time with a somewhat less jokey slab of melodic death/thrash, including some seriously impressive guitar fury from series creator Brendan Small. Who knew the guy behind "Home Movies" could shred like this?

2. Amorphis - "Sampo" (Skyforger, Nuclear Blast): Now thoroughly settled into a comfortable late-career cruise, Finland's long-running atmospheric shapeshifters dipped back into native folklore for inspiration and came up with their strongest recent album, resplendent in sky-spanning guitar riffs, proggy detours and heartfelt goth/death vocals.

3. Megadeth - "1,320" (Endgame, Roadrunner): Since 2001's The World Needs a Hero, Dave Mustaine has slowly rebuilt Megadeth into a respectable band, and for the first time since he lost the plot in the mid-'90s, he's delivered an entire album worth hearing, split between the catchy melodic sensibilities of onetime Jag Panzer guitarist Chris Broderick and the twisted, nearly-off-the-rails thrash that once defined Megadeth.

4. Amesoeurs - "La Reine Trayeuse" (Amesoeurs, Profound Lore): Alcest mastermind Neige finally delivered a full-length, full band effort from his cult side project, then promptly disbanded the artsy outfit, leaving behind a grimy, apocalyptic, occasionally gorgeous battle of buzzing disciplines, haunted '80s proto-shoegaze trading shots with hypnotic French bedroom black metal.

5. Ensiferum - "Stone Cold Metal" (From Afar, Napalm): For what is easily their best effort since their outta-nowhere 2001 debut, the Finns put a little more thought into their compositions and take their rousing Viking-ish pomp into big-budget territory, knocking one out of the park on this number by deciding to take a wicked spaghetti western track about three minutes in.

6. Believer - "The Need for Conflict" (Gabriel, Metal Blade): The nonexistent award for Most Impressive Reunion should go to the way-underhyped return of these obscure Christian prog-thrashers from Pennsylvania, who remarkably resurrected their scorched Earth shrieks, dry mullets-down riffing and quirky rhythmic spasms without sounding like something out of 1994.

7. Immortal - "Arctic Swarm" (All Shall Fall, Nuclear Blast): While in no way a towering achievement, Immortal's reunion album is actually a slight step up from their prior platter of mainstreamed black metal, containing all the bitter rasps and cavernous grooves one could want from the ludicrously painted Norse trio.

8. Crimfall - "Wildfire Season" (As the Path Unfolds..., Napalm): "Bombast without bounds" seems to be the motto of these Finnish upstarts, impressive enemies of minimalism with some folk tendencies who generally live to inherit the symphonic excesses of Therion, classic Nightwish and Howard Shore's "Lord of the Rings" scores.

9. Heaven & Hell - "Eating the Cannibals" (The Devil You Know, Rhino): The Mob Rules/Dehumanizer lineup of Black Sabbath may have been forced to change their name by a certain former reality show couple, but the surprising weight of the old timers' first album in 17 years is no publicity stunt, a hearty helping of vintage Dio/Iommi doom n' gloom.

10. Ghost Brigade - "My Heart Is a Tomb" (Isolation Songs, Season of Mist): Injecting post-metal textures and effective, emotive clean singing into artsy melodic greyness, this Finnish outfit's sophomore effort is the perfect holiday gift for any Katatonia fan who still misses their older doom/death stuff but reveres their recent preference for dynamics.

11. Månegarm - "Nattsjäl, Dromsjäl" (Nattväsen, Regain): Perhaps taking after countrymen Thyrfing, folk metal stalwarts Månegarm thickened up their sound this time around, the Swedish Vikings content to cruise at a steady gallop, Janne Liljeqvist's fiddle at the ready whenever a little nighttime jiggery is due.

12. Lamb of God - "Reclamation" (Wrath, Epic): It's a shockingly forgettable collection of retreaded material, and Randy Blythe is best advised to quit experimenting with "singing," but the once-formidable Virginia neo-thrashers haven't completely lost it yet, as this closing number hides the band's strong points (aggro drama + deadly rhythms) in a swampy, bluesy cushion... they wear this sort of Pantera affectation well.

13. God Dethroned - "No Survivors" (Passiondale, Metal Blade): As reliable as heartburn after a Heineken, the Dutch death metal institution returns with a disc centered around one of WWI's biggest battles, their characteristically caffeinated barbed-wire guitar melodies graced by Henri Sattler's most diverse vocal performance to date.

14. Sun of the Blind - "Ornaments" (Skullreader, Avantgarde): This solo disc by Zhaaral, 1/3 of Swiss ambient black metallers Darkspace, is a journey through chasms of layered despondency, a psychedelic slow-burner that seduces the ears and oxidizes the soul in a diseased collusion of wafer-thin tones.

15. Alestorm - "Keelhauled" (Black Sails at Midnight, SPV): The Scottish pirates quickly follow their surprisingly well-received debut with another predictable yet stoopidly fun round of power/folk/thrash tunes about guzzling rum and scurvy sea dogs, with this one possibly standing as their definitive hooligan anthem. You'd have to be a really boring piece of shit to not have a good time listening to this song.

16. Vreid - "Blücher" (Milorg, Indie): Back in World War concept album land, this criminally overlooked black n' roll crew's fourth disc shrieks the praises of the Norwegian homefront resistance during WWII, their assured hooks and expert experimental moments providing depth to what could have just been a solid slate of skullcrackers.

17. My Dying Bride - "Santuario di Sangue" (For Lies I Sire, Peaceville): Ye Olde British Doom personified, MDB introduces the lineup's first full-time violinist since Martin Powell left eleven years ago on what is unfortunately a middle-of-the-road album, only occasionally reaching the depths of wispy melancholy heard here.

18. Unanimated - "The Endless Beyond" (In the Light of Darkness, Regain): Any fan of Sweden's '90s melodic death metal scene will be heartily satisfied by the reunion of this cult horde, who eschew the keyboard accents of old but retain the dank eerieness that kept them among the less mainstream shadows of the underground.

19. Manowar - "Let the Gods Decide" (Thunder In the Sky, Magic Circle): After their last album, a self-indulgent symphonic crapheap that managed to be more clueless than this famously insular New York quartet ever had, a simple dumbshit rocker like this sounds pretty good, although it's pure filler by their classic standards.

20. Finsterforst - "Sturmes Ernte" (...Zum Tode Hin, Einheit): Exceeding all expectations for a second album, the blackened folk metal sextet stretched out into mini-Moonsorrow territory with five epic-length compositions fleshed out by surging riffs, pumping (real) accordion and rich old-world German atmosphere.

Nanaba, nanaba, nanaba...

I like to think of myself as fairly well-versed in the world of cinematic oddities. Since high school, when midnight show staples like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," "A Clockwork Orange," "Pink Floyd The Wall" and "Eraserhead" initiated me into the realm of not-for-everyone movies, I've spent a significant portion of my life reading about, searching for and, at times, actually viewing as many "cult classics" as I could.

It's been a nebulous pursuit. At first, everything was a revelation. I dug into the filmographies of icons like David Lynch, John Waters, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Dario Argento, Russ Meyer, Edward D. Wood, Jr. and Terry Gilliam. Then I discovered the bizarre side of arthouse fare from Pedro Almodóvar, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, Peter Greenaway and Guy Maddin. I naturally gravitated toward the creative iconoclasts of horror cinema, visionaries like George A. Romero, David Cronenberg, Sam Raimi, Peter Jackson, Michele Soavi and José Mojica Marins. I braved the disturbing waters of Jörg Buttgereit, Ruggero Deodato, Takashi Miike and Harmony Korine and came out relatively human on the other side. I was, and still am, a big Troma buff.

Long story shortened, I prefer atypical, creative, boundary-pushing shit. I think I've seen all the classics, and modern cult films just don't have the same obscure allure. I mean, I like "Donnie Darko" just fine, but it did not blow my mind like "Blue Velvet" did back in the day. I personally enjoyed video hits like "The Big Lebowski" and "Office Space" during their brief, unsuccessful theatrical runs, before all you regular people cared. I would gladly re-watch not-so-famous cult curiosities like "Wizards," "Forbidden Zone," "Freaked," "Liquid Sky," "The Dark Backward," "The Reflecting Skin," "Tapeheads," "Cabin Boy," "The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here!" or even "The Rules of Attraction" before sitting through "Showgirls" again.

I've seen a few great contemporary movies this year, but I prefer the nostalgic comfort found in film grain textures, pre-digital special effects, organic soundtrack instruments and amusingly outdated fashion. To me, there's just something spine-tingling about discovering an incredibly unique film that's been long overlooked. It gives me hope. It justifies all the hours of slogging through mediocre bullshit to find a one-of-a-kind obscurity like "Psychos in Love" or "Diamond Ninja Force."

Mere taboo-busting doesn't do it for me like it used to. I crave the uncanny. I want a shock to the system that shows some creativity, imagination or surprise. By 2009, however, I was beginning to fear that unless I tossed aside my moral restrictions and sat down with titles I've been consciously avoiding, I would never find another of these hidden masterpieces. Then I read about "House."

Not to be confused with the American horror-comedy from 1986, nor the current doctor TV show with the guy from "Black Adder," this "House" is a 1977 Japanese film released by Toho Company Ltd., the folks who brought us the oeuvre of Akira Kurosawa, Godzilla and Studio Ghibli. It was the feature debut of director Nobuhiko Obayashi, who reportedly came up through experimental shorts and TV commercials, but with whose other work I am otherwise unfamiliar. Prior to this year, when it was acquired by Janus Films and began to make the rounds at festivals and revival houses, "House" (or, if you prefer, "Hausu") was virtually unknown in the United States. I happened across a review, which made it sound like the best movie ever, and then I saw the trailer, which made me immediately hunt down an English fan-subbed copy of the German DVD through, um, untraditional sources.

I really don't know why I didn't see "House" sooner. I now realize that it's featured in a few books I keep on my living room shelf, including perfunctorily in Jack Hunter's "Eros In Hell: Sex, Blood and Madness in Japanese Cinema" and slightly more substantially in Pete Tombs' inedispensable "Mondo Macabro: Weird & Wonderful Cinema Around the World," but neither author adequately conveyed its unrivaled lunacy to me when I first dug through their tomes. This is really the sort of film that I live for.

It's soaked through with fantastic elements. It collides tones until it's impossible to predict its creators' intent. It keeps you guessing. It combines sensitive themes about loss and family with ludicrous slapstick non sequiturs and gonzo horror set pieces. Its colorful, professional and psychedelic look is unrivaled; on one hand, it's serious and stylish, and on the other, it's lovingly handcrafted mischief.

Notice how I've danced around describing what actually happens in the film. Part of me doesn't know where to start, and the rest doesn't want to ruin anything. "House" is really the kind of journey that you're better off knowing nothing about, but I'm not so vain that I would expect anyone to rush off and find a currently limited release film just because I said it's worth the effort.

In the same way "The Shining" is about a down-on-his-luck dad who gets a job as a hotel caretaker, "House" is about seven teenaged girls who vacation with the aunt of one of the girls. Oshare misses her late mother, so when her father decides to introduce his new fiancée, she gets upset and decides to ditch their traditional family trip. Seeking to reconnect with her mother's sister instead, Oshare writes to Auntie and quickly gets a positive reply. A fluffy white cat shows up at her window around the same time. Oshare, the cat and six giggling Japanese girls hop a train to Auntie's house, hoping to meet their handsome teacher there and listening to the tragic story of Auntie losing her true love during WWII. A goofy dude selling melons directs them to the house.

So far, pretty normal, with only Obayashi's visual flourishes clueing you in to how insane the movie will get. After Oshare and her buddy Fanta hug each other goodbye, we see Oshare turn around and the frame freezes, suggesting Fanta's mental photograph of her close friend. Oshare's scenes with her dad and his new ladyfriend are set "outside," shot against an intentionally fake painted sunset and through a convoluted '70s wall made of beveled glass squares which distort all the human figures. The fiancée's hair and scarves perpetually billow due to a wind that only seems to affect her. When Oshare storms into her bedroom and spins around, keeping only her head in the frame, we see as the shot widens that her clothes have suddenly changed. Ohare's flickering impressions of her mother have the wistful indie childhood vibe of Michel Gondry's finest work. Throughout the girls' journey to Auntie's, the outdoor landscapes often appear artificial and cartoonish — sometimes they're revealed as diegetic, other times you're not really sure.

Then there's the cutaway scene to the hapless teacher who's supposed to be meeting the girls in the countryside but gets sidetracked in a podunk town where he gets a hubcap stuck on his butt and goes zipping down stairs and into traffic. Sped-up footage and zany sound effects combine with the soundtrack's sunshine funk to resemble a live-action interstitial on "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour." This, in what is ostensibly a horror film in which characters are subsequently attacked by oversized bedding, chewed up by a piano, sucked into a ceiling lamp, drowned in a river of blood that is vomited out of a cat painting or turned into a pile of bananas.

You may need to wait until Janus releases the film on DVD (most likely as part of the esteemed Criterion Collection), but if you have the ability to see it sooner, do it. Trust me, even if "House" reminds you of a lot of other visual experiences you hold dear, you have never seen anything else quite like it. Upon my first full viewing, I was unable to take my eyes off of it. I shook with laughter, surprised myself with a few tears and, occasionally, fumbled for the remote to rewind and verify I had just seen what I thought I saw... not that I missed something, I just couldn't believe what had just happened. If you're like me, it will make you glad to be alive.

Next up: a multi-part look at the new music I listened to during 2009. Hooray!