Albums
of the year
2011
“People of Earth. How are you?” One year ago my intention was to finally write my own album reviews instead of just posting snippets of those from “professional critics”. However big events crossed my path and I simply didn’t have the time as I had intended. But it’s a new year, with even less time it seems – so why not start now? I should keep this intro short as you have a lot of reading to do (and listening as I’ve added an MP3 of a highlight from each album!), so get to it. As always, some great music was released this year. Granted, my favorite album this year was not only musically wonderful, but it also had a pretty profound emotional impact on me due to these changes from the past year. But that’s why it’s MY list! Anyway, hopefully someone finds something new to explore. Thanks for reading this labor of love. Enjoy, and drive with aloha …
5
David Lynch
Crazy Clown Time
Technically this isn’t David Lynch’s debut as a musician, it’s his first full length released under his own name. For years he has been releasing music mostly as scores to his films, or at least projects associated with his films. There was Thought Gang which was in conjunction with Twin Peaks : Fire Walk With Me in the early 90’s, as well as Bluebob which came out during the Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive timeframe. All had his trademark sound – the sound of slow, dark, swampy blues with a repetitive groove – that could soundtrack any of his films, and for the most part that is what we have here for his “solo” album, Crazy Clown Time. Like his films, this is definitely an acquired taste. As dark and mysterious his films are, what I have always admired about his work is his sense of humor, not taking himself too seriously. He finds absurdity to be both a magical and beautiful thing, but also humorous. The entire series ofTwin Peaks is no better example of that – and this album for me is the musical equivalent of Twin Peaks. It’s unsettling, bizarre and creepy in its sound, but so absurd in its repetition and abundance of silly lyrics that it’s frequently hilarious. There isn’t much music out there that can do either – creep you out – or make you laugh – but Lynch is able to do both in a single chorus, never-mind an entire album. There are songs of sentimental melancholy, at least for Lynch, in songs like ‘These Are My Friends’ and ‘She Rise Up’ (one of my songs of the year), as well as total stinkers such as ‘Football Game’ and ‘Strange and Unproductive Thinking’, but then there are groove-filled moments of dark (sound) and bright light (lyrics) in tracks such as ‘I Know’ and the utterly fantastic title track of ‘Crazy Clown Time’ that just make you realize, like his films, there is nothing else out there that sounds like this. Since the majority of the songs make me come back to it curiously over and over – to feel that otherworldly alternate universe feel that Lynch has expertly crafted in his career (this time, musically), I just have to give this album high marks. If you enjoyed that slow motion, dark, sexy world of Twin Peaks andMulholland Drive, most of this album will most definitely leave you satisfied.