Top Tens of 2007

Nosferatu Double Feature, Werner Herzog Retrospective, SFMOMA

Last January we performed a live soundtrack to F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, a silent film from 1922 based on Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was part of a double feature that also included Herzog's 1978 re-make. For Herzog, Murnau's film is one of the greatest of all time, and is hugely significant in how he defines himself as a filmmaker. As if that wasn't nerve-racking enough, Herzog ended up being there... jet-lagged, but quick-witted and gracious. Having the chance to perform in front of Herzog to a film he holds in such high regard was more than an honor.

Faust

Last year I discovered that Faust had also performed to Murnau's Nosferatu and that it was docucmented on Faust Wakes Nosferatu (1997) but I purposely (and painfully) abstained from it until after our performance at the SFMOMA so as not to have it influence me in any way. Its so f'n good! ...really sparse in some parts and totally blissed out in others. Chains klang and metal gets banged, but space echoes, tape delays, and dirty keyboards will transport you to a place where you'll accidentally stay out too late and melt in the morning sunlight... I listened to it and BBC Sessions + (2001) habitually this year.

Yellow Swans At All Ends

Art as life and free noise as political protest / instigator of social change are obviously right up my alley, but I can objectively say that At All Ends is an incredible record. Its definitely Yellow Swans' best full-length to date... and is right up there with Drift Yellow Swans (2006), Copper/Silver with Gray Daturas (2005), and the Axolotl & Gerritt collaboration (re-released this year on Root Strata) as one of their best releases overall. Round slabs of fuzz bounce into each other, then into you, lift you off the ground, shampoo your ears, and leave you floating in space with round fuzzy friends and a warm-all-over feeling.

The Angels of Light We Are Him

The Angels of Light have that unique quality of sounding both extremely familiar and like something you've never heard before... and they're just getting better and better with each release. The Angels of Light Sing 'Other People' (2005) was an amazing record, but We Are Him turns it up a notch. The drums are more ballsy. The layered, gorgeously drugged-out backing vocals are more layered, more gorgeous, and more drugged-out. The instrumentation is still basically the same - a tasteful mix of electric and acoustic... but its like demented nursery rhymes, or Elvis on both acid and morphine, or the quirkier Beatles songs (the ones written by Ringo)... either way its all done with an evagelical fervor... so I go right up to the front and say, "Heal me!"

Take Your Time: Olafur Eliasson, SFMOMA

The Olafur Eliasson show currently at the SFMOMA is amazing! There's a wide range of work from the early 90's 'til now, including most of his best. Its up through the 24th of February. If you're in the bay area, you should check it out. Supercool stuff.

Radiohead

I find most of the tracks on In Rainbows underwhelming, but you have to give them props for being at the level they're at and doing shit that's DIY... not just co-opting DIY as an aesthetic (something that irritates me to no end), but actually doing smart, positive, forward-thinking stuff on their own terms.

Deerhoof

As f'd up as they are catchy, Deerhoof is totally unique. I listened to Friend Opportunity (2007), Milk Man (2004), and especially Reveille (2002) obsessively for at least a month.

Festivus: Bottling Smoke & Tanned Tin

Digitalis' Bottling Smoke festival was a blast. Everyone was super nice, there were some great performances, and the CDR series (plural) that came out of it, Bottled Smoke and Arroyo, contain more than a few gems. Tanned Tin was also a ton of fun. Again, everyone was super nice and there were some great performances. Favorite conversation regarding our set overheard in Spanish, translated to English:

Hombre numero uno

"It could potentially be boring, but its not!"

Hombre numero dos

"Yeah, its like I'm having sex with the wrong person, but I like it!"

Antibalas "Beaten Metal" from Security

Not usually my kind of thing... but holy shit... its been a long time since I've had to concentrate this hard not to involuntarily air drum in public.

Donovan "Hurdy Gurdy Man" (1968)

I feel like I must've heard this song when I was a kid, but when I saw it used to geniusly creepy effect in Zodiac earlier this year, I had to know more. Everything made sense when I found out that Jimmy Page, John Bonham, and John Paul Jones all play on it. Its like a slightly more psychedelic, slightly more pop Led Zeppelin (with more subdued vocals).