My Latest Album Liner Notes

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to write liner notes for two new albums, Blackfield’s Open Mind and Vertical Horizon’s The Lost Mile.

The pressure was on. It always is. I wrote sleeve notes for the previous Vertical Horizon record and I’ve written numerous sleeve note essays for Steven Wilson but, like any writing assignment, it’s always slightly daunting and a fresh challenge.

BLACKFIELD

The brief from Steven Wilson was as follows: Could I pen sleeve notes for an upcoming best of Blackfield album, and could I write it without doing an interview but “maybe something more poetic,” or just highlight how the long-running side-project collaboration between him and Aviv Geffen came together.

What Steven envisioned by "poetic" was something akin to the sleeve notes of the first Roxy Music album. Those liner notes, penned by Bryan Ferry’s good friend Simon Puxley, are a blast of fun. They read like a hallucinogenic fever dream in which random thoughts and observations are scattered on the page with ellipses as the only connective tissue between them. Cut-and-paste Beat poetry with shifting time signatures!

Not very easy to emulate....

 

In my first attempt at writing something inspired by that style, I also took cues from, variously, Susannah Clarke's novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (a sort of literary Harry Potter for adults), the fanciful origin story of Porcupine Tree, and the terminology of 19th century medicine peddled by quacks.

The result was as bizarre as it sounds. There's a perilous line between the ridiculous and the sublime and I teetered over into the former territory. It had to be scrapped.

Back to the drawing board.

The final version of the sleeve notes was a more straightforward telling of the Blackfield origin story combined with some of the more toned-down elements of my attempt at bizarrely styled sleeve notes. The end result retains a bit of mystique and mischief, I think. (Though Aviv modestly axed my line about how he’s such a superstar that even Gal Gadot wants to take selfies with him—which is true!)

VERTICAL HORIZON

Speaking of Steven Wilson, the first time I met Matt Scannell was backstage after a Porcupine Tree show in Los Angeles. Matt's band, Vertical Horizon, was the soundtrack of 1999, the year that I first moved to the USA. Their #1 single, “Everything You Want” was the single most played song on all American radio that year. Other singles “You’re a God” and “Best IEver Had (Grey Sky Morning)” were also ubiquitous. The first time I heard the album Everything You Want was through my then-girlfriend, now wife.

That night in Los Angeles, Porcupine Tree decamped to a bar a block from the venue with a few friends in tow. I recall that Porcupine Tree were in great spirits after their show, laughing about how an Italian girl in the front row kept lifting her top and flashing them while they were trying to play very complex parts! My pal John Wesley, the touring guitarist in Porcupine Tree and a solo artist in his own right, introduced me to Matt. He and I sat down and began talking about music. We are both Rush fans and I was aware that he is one of Neil Peart’s best friends. I was thrilled to find out just how wide-ranging Matt’s music tastes are and how many favorites we enjoy in common, including—to name but just a select few—Peter Gabriel, Yes, Robert Plant, Kate Bush, and, of course, Steven Wilson and Porcupine Tree. Soon after, Matt came over to our little West Hollywood apartment on a sweltering hot day for a listening session to some music from my collection. And thus began one of my most treasured friendships.

It’s hard for me to adequately express just what a special person Matt is. He’s someone whose focus is outward, rather than inward. His natural instinct is to be attentive and attuned to others. He gives of himself, selfless and egoless. He has such a joyful zest for life as he pursues his various interests, which include test-driving sports cars and collecting wristwatches.

Matt is a very talented songwriter. How does he continually come up with such great melodies and hooks? I once told him that he writes the best middle-eights so that his songs suddenly veer off in a thrilling new trajectory midway through. Matt told me that Alex Lifeson had also commended him on that aspect of his songs. Matt’s a killer guitarist—the last few Vertical Horizon albums really showcased his six-string solo skills. The dude's also just, well, naturally cool. 

It was an honor to receive Matt’s invitation to write a short essay for Vertical Horizon’s sixth album, Echoes from the Underground, which included the rare privilege to go into a studio to watch Neil Peart lay down drum tracks on two songs. A few years later, I've now written sleeve notes for Vertical Horizon’s new album, The Lost Mile. It’s Matt’s best work to date (he keeps one-upping himself). This was the most difficult and boldest project he’s undertaken. I attempted to capture in words just how difficult the act of creation can be, and how transformative it is when an artist breaks through barriers to achieve what he set out to do.

I am very blessed to work again and again with both Steven and Matt. They’re each incredibly talented and I am such an admirer of their respective work. Make no mistake, it is work. Their albums are so good because they both put in the blood, sweat, and tears into their music. In my own writing endeavors, I continue to learn a lot from both of these artists.

Blackfield: Open Mind is released September 25th and can be ordered on Amazon or Burning Shed.

Vertical Horizon: The Lost Mile can be ordered on Amazon, and is available to download/stream at all the usual outlets.

Steven Wilson tour program

'Twas a pleasure to interview Steven Wilson for his new tour program. The focus of my piece is the live side of Steven's work. An in-depth look at artistry behind how Steven designs his concerts from the setlists to the staging, lighting, and visual display. The program is a handsome production thanks to the design of Carl Glover + photos by Lasse Hoile and Joe del Tufo. Look for it at Steven's current tour of Europe and upcoming US tour (see: http://stevenwilsonhq.com/sw/tour-dates/)

Here, below, are excerpts from the interview with SW that didn't make the cut for the tour program:

When you’re performing on stage, what sort of things go through your mind? Are you thinking, “I have to tap that guitar pedal in the next bar and then go over to the keyboard next?”

There comes a point where all those things have become automatic, they become instinct and you don’t even have to think about them. Actually, the worst thing that you can do is think about it too much. Because the moment I start to think about it, that’s when I suddenly panic and forget lyrics or what I’m supposed to do because you’re no longer relying on that subconscious instinct. So it’s better not to have that stuff in your mind.

When I'm actually in the middle of playing songs, I'm not sure what I'm thinking really. We have a lot of fun on stage and we have a lot of in-jokes. A lot of the time I might be thinking, “How can I put Craig off?” Or, “How can I make Nick laugh?”

How do you deal with hecklers? 

The hecklers that I get at my shows tend to be smart-arses who want to shout something out to show everyone else how clever they are. Being a smart-arse myself, I enjoy engaging with those kind of people, in fact I’m probably guilty of conversing with them for too long sometimes. The band will start to look at their watches and wonder when we’re going to play the next song!

I guess I do talk quite a lot between songs. I can’t abide clichéd showbiz stage banter, so I’ve learned that it’s best to talk to an audience like you’re talking to a single person one-on-one, relaxed and don’t be self-conscious about what you’re saying. That way you’re not doing the “reading from a script” thing.

Do you ever find your mind wandering—seeing someone in the audience that you recognize or who looks interesting for some reason?

Sometimes you have people literally leaning over the front of the stage and you can’t help but engage with them. I might be admiring a pretty girl or marvelling at a particularly grotesque T-shirt someone in the front row might be wearing!  The one thing that’s very difficult to avoid is obsessing about someone in the audience that doesn’t seem to be enjoying it. They might be a partner who has been dragged along to the show; it’s not really their thing but they come along to keep their other half company. You start to fixate on that person. It’s almost like the show for me becomes just for that person. If I can make that person enjoy the show, then it’s a success!

What does an audience have to do to merit a rare additional, unplanned encore?

Haha! Obvious, just don’t let us feel like you’ve had enough, don’t let the enthusiasm drop. But they have to do it as a collective, it’s no good if just a few people are screaming for more, it has to be the whole audience. Although in theory the show ends when the setlist ends, I have been known to come back on for an impromptu extra song or two if the audience were passionate enough about it.

What sort of mishaps have you or other band members had on stage?

Ah, Spinal Tap again!  Well, we have a lot of visual elements in the show, as well as some audio on backing track, mainly sound design and backing vocals. Not massive amounts, but things that make the musical tapestry more immersive. Because of that, we have to play to a click track which synchronises the music with the visuals. I remember when we were on stage in Sao Paulo in Brazil and we made a big entrance playing “Luminol”, but for whatever reason, we got out of synchronisation with the backing track and all the backing vocals were coming in at all the wrong moments, it was a total train wreck!  So much so, that it was just not possible to recover, so after about 3 minutes into the 14-minute song, I said, “STOP THE SHOW!”, and made a joke about it with the audience. I told them, “We’re going to walk off stage and we’re going come back on stage pretending as if nothing happened.” And of course the audience loved it. The worst thing you can do is be embarrassed, because then they feel embarrassed too.

My Sleeve Notes for a New Box Set

What's the "X Factor" that distinguishes the most talented artists from the millions of wannabe aspiring musicians?

Partly, I suppose, it's a gift of innate ability. But that's not enough to make it. It takes work, perseverance and a singular vision. When I interviewed Steven Wilson about his earliest creative endeavors for the new vinyl box set, The Delerium Years: 1991-1993, I was struck by his indomitable drive and passion. Steven told me he knew it was his destiny to be a professional musician. For every obstacle—and there were many—he just worked harder. 

My 7500 word sleeve notes, which appear as a "perfect bound" book within the 9 disc vinyl box set, offer a rare peek into Steven's childhood and early career. (I also wrote the sleeve notes for the previous Porcupine Tree vinyl box set, The Delerium Years: 1994-1997, released earlier this year.)

Porcupine Tree - The Delerium Years 1991 - 1993 traces the explosive start of Steven Wilson's career in Porcupine Tree. The band started out as little more than a joke. During his teenage years in the 1980s, Wilson mucked about with primitive recording gear in his bedroom and dreamed up an imaginary band with an absurd name and an outlandish backstory. As a lark, the teenager began writing songs for his fake group. The punchline? Wilson's joke band was seriously good. Delerium Records, a record label for underground music, released Porcupine Tree's fresh take on psychedelic and progressive music to great success. 

The latest box set includes the first two Porcupine Tree studio albums, On the Sunday of Life... and Up the Downstair, as well as the Staircase Infinities mini album, the stand-alone EP Voyage 34: The Complete Trip, and the archival compilation album Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape. But these records aren't just the story of how Wilson had the last laugh when his joke band became a reality. These formative releases also trace how Wilson honed his craft and found his voice as an artist. 

The LPs (pressed on 180g heavyweight vinyl) have been remastered by Steven. (Hedgerow Dreamscape and On the Sunday of Life... feature Steven's remasters for the recent compact disc versions of those albums.) This version of Voyage 34 will revert to the original full length version of "Phase IV" featured on the original vinyl release. 

The deluxe box includes a 'perfect bound' book featuring rare and unseen archival photographs. The box, book and LP packaging is designed by long-term collaborators Lasse Hoile and Carl Glover. Strictly limited edition. (The previous box set has already sold out.) Released January 27 and available for pre-order at Burning Shed.

Above all, it's a pleasure to work with Steven himself. 

Steven Wilson interview

Photo: Lasse Hoile

I'm occasionally asked what my worst interviewee was. Without hesitation, my response is "Coldplay." When I interviewed the band's guitarist, Johnny Buckland circa the release of the band's debut album, his reponses were mostly monosyllabic and he couldn't have been less effusive or articulate. After he hung up, I had to figure out how to write my Coldplay article with hardly any great quotes or insights from the musician. Not a fun day.

By contrast, I can tell you exactly who my best interviewee is: Steven Wilson. I've interviewed the British musician many, many, times since 2002 and he always offers thoughtful, intelligent, articulate responses to my questions. That's certainly the case with my latest interview with Steven Wilson about his new album, Hand.Cannot.Erase., for Under the Radar magazine. For example, read what he has to say about Facebook's impact upon human relationships or his philosophical musings about how to get the best things out of life by remaining proactive in all areas of life.

Never heard of Wilson? Here's how I introduce him in my piece:

He's almost never played on the radio despite the fact that his previous album, The Raven that Refused to Sing (and Other Stories), sold well over 100,000 copies worldwide. He's seldom mentioned in the press even though he plays for crowds of over 2,000 per night and can sell out London's Royal Albert Hall. And Wilson has yet to be regularly compared to musical polymaths such as Trent Reznor and Damon Albarn even though his wide-ranging side projects include No-Man (art rock), Bass Communion (ambient electronica), Blackfield (indie pop), Storm Corrosion (psychedelic folk), and Porcupine Tree (progressive rock).

Steven's fourth solo album is his best work to date and I'd be surprised if I hear a better album in 2015. (Here's a taste of what it sounds like.)

Playlist: September

Albums currently in rotation:

• The Pajama Party—Pajama Party (2011)
• Laura Marling—A Creature I Don't Know (2011)
• Trentemøller—Reworked/Remixed (2011)
• St. Vincent—Strange Mercy (2011)
• David Sylvian—Approaching Silence (1999)
• Big Wreck—In Loving Memory Of (1997)
• Taj Mahal—Taj Mahal's Blues (1992)
• Bonobo—Black Sands (2010)
• Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara—In Trance (2011)
• I Break Horses—Hearts (2011)
• Chickenfoot—Chickenfoot III (2011)
• Future Sound of London—Lifeforms (1994)
• Feist—Let It Die (2004), The Reminder (2007)
• Joe Bonamassa & Beth Hart—Don't Explain (2011)
• Jon Hopkins & King Creosote—Diamond Mine (2011)
• Opeth—Heritage (2011)
• Gary Moore—Live at Montreux 2010 (2011)
• Spotlight, Floodlight—Nocturne (2011)
• King Crimson—In the Wake of Poseidon (1970), Lizard (1970), Islands (1971), Red (1974)
  

To quote a Marillion lyric, I'm feeling globally altered and disheveled. I've just returned from South Africa (the reason why there was no playlist posted for August), so I'm now trying to readjust to Pacific Time. As if that was disorienting enough, I am listening to Carole King's upcoming holiday album because I am interviewing her for an airline magazine. Lemme tell you, it's awfully strange to hear Christmas music in September.

My ears have been spoiled of late. As you'll see from the list above, I've been listening to my typically varied diet, including indie rock, blues, classic rock, world music, metal, folk, electronica, and progressive rock. Let me tell you a bit more about some of the albums I've listed above.

In heavy rotation in these parts: Steven Wilson's new album. It's the second solo album by the British songwriter, best known as the songwriter-singer-guitarist-producer of Porcupine Tree. Among his many extracurricular pursuits are long-running projects such as side projects such as No-Man (art rock), Bass Communion (ambient electronica), I.E.M. (Krautrock) and Blackfield (indie pop rock). I awed that one individual can be so prolific and diverse and yet produce such a consistently high caliber of songcraft and artistic innovation. He's an extremely rare and special talent.

I recently interviewed Wilson about his new solo album, Grace for Drowning, a double album that encompasses whole ecosystems of music. Which is to say that Wilson has once again incorporated his wide-ranging musical loves and filtered them to create something far more ambitious than most records. Grace for Drowning marks new territory for Wilson since it is unabashedly inspired by early progressive rock. That style of music has long been a primary influence on Wilson, of course, but Wilson's work on remastering the King Crimson back catalog (which I've been enjoying these past few months) made him realize what a key element jazz was to nascent progressive rock. But modern-day progressive bands have largely neglected the jazz element which Wilson says was often the spiritual heart of those 1970s bands. Wilson has emulated the approach of Robert Fripp on the King Crimson albums Lizard and Islands—recruit a bunch of jazz musicians and place them in a rock context.

Fripp was at the London listening session for Grace for Drowning. I'm told that he had a huge smile throughout the playback and was tapping his foot the entire time. Afterward, Fripp claimed not to hear any King Crimson influence at all...which seems disingenuous! The touchstones of Lizard, Islands and Red are all over Grace for Drowning. You can hear Crimon-esque slabs of monolithic doom-y chords on jazz-rock tracks such as "Sectarian" and "Remainder the Black Dog" (which you can download for free at www.gracefordrowning.com) and the 23-minute long "Raider II," a track with more endings than the last Lord of the Rings movie!



A lot of the album almost sounds like the score to a movie and I love that aspect of it. Indeed, the final three minutes of "Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye" is stunning. It's mixed so quietly that you have to lean in close to the speakers and really pay attention. The unsettling choral work of "Raider Prelude" sounds like something off the soundtrack to 2001: A Space Odyssey. And Belle De Jour could have slotted onto the soundtrack to The Dear Hunter.

"No Part of Me" and "Index" (see video, below) showcase Wilson's electronica instincts. Indeed, the sublime "No Part of Me" begins as a gorgeous electronica sigh (with shades of Autechre) and then, midway through, suddenly plunges off a musical cliff into a riffing guitars section with middle-eastern sax courtesy of Theo Travis. It's fantastic.



A few other observations: I love the Steely Dan-ish piano on "Deform to Form a Star"... Though this is not a guitar-oriented album, Wilson plays killer melodic guitar solos on "Deform to Form a Star" and "Like Dust I Have Cleared from My Eye" and "Track One"...the album has some surprisingly joyful and upbeat music on it!

A related album is Opeth's Heritage, which was mixed by Wilson. I've long been a fan of the Swedish death metal band who, unlike most bands of that genre, have musically adventurous instincts and a keen grasp of melody. Heritage is a radical change of direction for Opeth. They've completely ditched the metal sound and the cookie-monster vocals of previous releases. I sure won't miss the unintelligible roars as I've always preferred the clean singing of frontman-guitarist-songwriter Mikael Akerfeldt, who has a beautiful voice. Heritage bears the hallmarks of early '70s progressive rock. Lots of mellotron, finger-picked acoustic guitar, David Gilmour-esque guitar and even flutes!



It's a natural progression for the band which has explored progressive sounds ever since Steven Wilson produced their seminal album Blackwater Park. And if you enjoy Heritage, take a listen to their earlier album Damnation—another Wilson production—a rather mellow album of classic rock sounds and without any metal or cookie-monster vocals. If you're feeling adventurous, and can stomach some heavier stuff, I also recommend Opeth's Ghost Reveries.

A new discovery for me: Spotlight, Floodlight whose debut album, Nocturne, consists of eerily beautiful instrumentals that will trigger mindscape dreams if you listen to it in the dark.

I first became aware of Spotlight, Floodlight when my friend Andy Saks sent me their beautifully forlorn version Peter Gabriel's "Mercy Street." The cover version, which you can download for free here, features vocalist Rob Dickinson from the seminal British shoegaze band Catherine Wheel.

Clearly, this was a band to watch. Well, not so much a band as an artist. Spotlight, Floodlight is a project by LA-based composer Peter Adams who has worked with a number of well-known artists, including the likes of Michael Penn, Tears for Fears, Juliana Hatfield, Richard Thompson and Rickie Lee Jones. On this album, Adams supplements his piano and keyboards with the help of several percussionists, bass players, a cellist and a violinist and cooing vocals courtesy of Amy Seeley.

Just as the title suggests, Nocturne is music for the curfew hours. The album cover, an evocative cover photograph of a wolf in a dark forest, perfectly sets the mood for the music. The consistently lovely melodies, led by stark piano and twinkling Fender Rhodes, often sound like lilting lullabies but there's often an ominous undercurrent that provides delicious tension to tracks such as "Pi" and "Of Itself So." The sound of mildly distressed murmuring human voices on "Trees" and "An Autobiography" makes one imagine there are ghosts in the recording machine. Nocturne utilizes space and minimalism to allow the organic instrumentation to breath on tracks such as "Beauty Lamented."

If you're a fan of Richard Barbieri or Talk Talk or, indeed, Erik Satie, you'll love this record.

You can hear all the tracks as well as purchase a digital download or CD on the Spotlight, Floodlight website. Peter Adams is playing a solo show at Room 5 in LA on October 18. You can also catch him as the keyboard player for John Oates (of Hall & Oates).

If you haven't already, check out Neil Finn's new side project, The Pajama Club, by downloading the two free songs from their website: http://www.pajamaclubmusic.com/ "From a Friend to a Friend" (featuring Johnny Marr on guitar) is particularly good and a pleasing departure in sound from the songwriting genius of Crowded House. I've included the video at the very top of this blog entry.

I've also been enjoying an advance copy of a 2-disc compilation of Trentemøller's remixes of Thom Yorke, UNKLE, Efterklang, Depeche Mode, Mew. Great stuff by the Danish electronic music producer and multi-instrumentalist.



This month saw the first posthumous release by my all-time favorite guitarist, Gary Moore. The album (and DVD), Live at Montreux 2010, is a document of Gary's final tour during which he returned to the sound of celtic-rock. He had been working on a new album in the style of Wild Frontier and Thin Lizzy's Black Rose at the time. Sadly, that album never got beyond the demo phase but three of the new songs intended for that album were included in the setlist of the final tour and they're included on the live album. They're all very good, especially one called "Days of Heroes," and I'm glad that they have seen the light of day. The video for one of the new songs, "Oh Wild One," is above.

The setlist, largely drawn from Gary's late 1980s albums, concludes with a stunning rendition of his most beloved song, "Parisienne Walkways." I have dozens of recordings of this track, a top 10 hit in the UK in 1979, and I never cease to be amazed how Gary never played the long guitar outro the same way twice. A testament to his brilliance.



Finally, a big thanks to my dear friend Simon Gort for a recent package of albums including King Creosote + Jon Hopkins, The Future Sound of London, Dutch Uncles, Bonobo, David Sylvian, and Justin Adams/Juldeh Camara. Simon and I share very similar music tastes and I am indebted to him for introducing me to so many great bands and artists over the past 20 years. Follow him on Twitter at @sgort100 for great recommendations of music you really need to hear!

My favorite albums of 2009

1) Porcupine Tree -- The Incident

Steven Wilson, the singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer of Porcupine Tree is a musical genius. That's not hyperbole. Wilson is a prolific chap who, in addition to 3 solo projects under 3 different pseudonyms, is also a member of two other bands: No-Man (atmospheric art rock) and Blackfield (concise pop rock). As a producer and contributor to other projects, his discography adds up to 265 Web pages on one website.

But Porcupine Tree is his major project and, after two decades, have finally broken into the major leagues with "The Incident" (a top 25 album in the US and UK, plus a sellout tour of 2,500 venues). They're difficult to categorize musically, but their music ranges from melancholic, Floyd-like ambient passages to thrashing hard rock to pop with vocal harmonies that the Beach Boys would envy. Wilson considers his greatest strength to be production, but I reckon his greatest talent is his unerring gift is melody and hooks. He's a wellspring of talent that continues to delight and surprise. (Take a look at my interview with Steven earlier this year for a glimpse into his thoughtful insights on music.)

Porcupine Tree is rounded out by three other unique musicians. Bassist Colin Edwin is a master of supple groove. Drummer Gavin Harrison, one of the world's greatest, has the arms of a blacksmith and the slight of hand of a Houdini as he lays down his patented "rhythmic illusions." Former Japan member Richard Barbieri is that rare thing: A singularly identifiable keyboardist who uses his keys to create moods, atmosphere, and texture.

Porcupine Tree's latest album is dark, dense, and deep. Each time I listen to the record, I drill down to the discovery of a new layer. In my review of the album in Filter magazine, I wrote in part, "The double album includes a 55-minute song cycle about transformative experiences in Wilson’s life, from an unsettling séance to daily memories of a girl he hasn’t seen in 15 years. Pretentious? Not in the execution. At times, Porcupine Tree soars past the celestial constellations Pink Floyd once explored (“Time Flies”); at others, it plunges beyond the tremendous abysses mined by Slayer (“Octane Twisted”). Amid these two extremes, Wilson’s wistful voice wanders through soundscapes of bucolic pop and industrial electronica. The once-underground band built its fan base with choruses that felt like priceless black-market commodities. Here, songs such as 'Blind House' and 'Flicker' uphold that tradition."

I concluded my review with a minor criticism: "Unfortunately, this is the first album in which the truly progressive rock group doesn’t break new musical ground. It’s a bit like Lance Armstrong placing second in the Tour de France -- not the finish one is accustomed to, but still a remarkable achievement." It's a churlish criticism, really, since the album certainly isn't a rehash of anything they've done before. The album succeeds as a summation of the band's progression over the past 20 years, freshly blending various elements from past albums to create a deeply rewarding experience. I've also revisited Wilson's first solo album, "Insurgentes" (released this time last year) many times during the course of this year and I'm blown away by the new No-Man concert DVD and accompanying live CD.

2) Chickenfoot -- Chickenfoot

Surprised? Me, too. The kind of big, dumb, rawk record that I didn't think I liked anymore. But I've listened to their debut a zillion times this year as it's my favorite driving music. More thoughts on the album here.



3) Engineers -- Three Fact Fader

The electronic shoegazers spent years making this second album. Their extremely mellow and ethereal debut suggested a melding of Talk Talk and My Bloody Valentine. "Three Fact Fader" is even better and has more colorful range. Listen to tracks such as "Brighter as We Fall," "Three Fact Fader" "Clean Coloured Wire" and "Sometimes I Realize" in the dark. In your mind's eye you'll envision unfurling fractals.

4) Dirty Projectors -- Bitte Orca

Grizzly Bear meets Jesca Hoop meets ... Steve Howe? Dave Longstreth's guitars and arrangements certainly remind one of Yes (especially "Remade Horizon"). Everything in this experimental album is delightfully unpredictable and off-kilter. From the slightly deranged backing vocals of Amber Coffman and Hakey Deckle ("Useful Chamber") to the way that the tempo speeds up and slows down in "Temecula Sunrise." At times, the rhythms have a hip-hop feel, at others the booming drums sound as if Phil Collins was in the studio, replicating his "In the Air Tonight" drum fills. Unique.

5) Grizzly Bear -- Veckatimest

Art Rock is back in a big way -- witness the success of Dirty Projectors, Bat for Lashes, and Animal Collective (all represented in this list). This followup to the excellent "Yellow House" album begins with purpose. "Southern Point" has a jazzy groove with double bass, light snare drums, and daubs of keyboard. Its chorus, held aloft by overlapping vocals and clattering drums, is the very definition of elation. You'll check the liner credits to see whether "Two Weeks" wasn't contributed by Brian Wilson. "I Live With You" seesaws between quiet pleading and crashing resolve. Grizzly Bear's key ingredient: unusual vocal arrangements and harmonies.

6) The Invisible -- The Invisible

For starters, the best album cover of 2009 (click on the image for a larger version). This British trio, whose debut recorded was nominated for this year's Mercury Music Prize, has been compared to Radiohead and TV on the Radio. Guitarist and vocalist David Okumu certainly sounds like TVOR's Tunde Adebimpe at times. But The Invisible favor a sparser sound and its flecked guitar and limber grooves are reminiscent of The Police. (Drummer Leo Taylor also plays for Hot Chip.) There are bold sonic touches, too. At times, Okumu creates synth sounds with his voice and the sound of a creaky door is employed as aural texture.

"Constant" beguiles with its insistent "hoo-hoo" backing vocals as Okumu sings, "You never change, always the same." On the single "London Girl," a funky bassline seemingly lifted from Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" is augmented by a tingle of xylophone. And "Monster's Waltz" has a chorus that must be the envy of Bloc Party. The album isn't available in the US, but it's well worth the import.

7) Bat for Lashes -- Two Suns

Bat for Lashes isn't actually a band, it's the name adopted by British singer Natasha Khan. Daffy moniker aside, she's a very exciting artist whose two primary influences are Kate Bush and Björk, my two favorite female vocalists. As such, Khan's music is otherworldly, slightly avant garde, and infectiously melodic. Like those two vocalists, Khan has her own unique voice that is wonderfully expressive. Alas, Khan doesn't have Bush's literary talents and so her lyrics share Bjork's penchant for fantastical gobbledigook with lines such as, "When I get hurt / been in the jungle / where's my bear to lick me clean." I'll be she has interesting dreams.

Khan's second album, "Two Suns," expands on the sparse dynamics of her debut, "Fur and Gold." "Glass" is one of the greatest songs I've heard this year, her voice effortlessly spiraling toward celestial realms. "Daniel," an ode to "The Karate Kid," is one of the year's most indelible singles. I can lose myself for an eternity in the penultimate song, "Traveling Woman," a stark meditation of voice and piano. Great live, too.

8) Doves -- Kingdom of Rust

The difficult fourth record. In an interview earlier this year, frontman and bassist Jimi Goodwin told me that the band spent several grueling years trying to discover new musical dimensions rather than repeat themselves. In the end, they were only partially successful. "Kingdom of Rust" still sounds distinctively like a Doves record, but it boasts some new elements. As I noted in the feature, the album opens with a "hive of synths in the Kraftwerk-like 'Jetstream.'" Elsewhere, the album’s most dominant new feature is "the feint and parry of Goodwin’s bass. In the parabolic arrangement of '10:03,' the seismic rumble at the midpoint threatens to split the song at its seams. By contrast, the bass line on 'Compulsion,' the most radical song on the record, is funk slowed down to moonwalk speed. The groove is reminiscent of that in The Rolling Stones’s 'Miss You.'"

The album's best track, "The Greatest Denier," was one of the last to be written and was a highlights of Doves' live set. If "Kingdom of Rust" wasn't quite the creative breakthrough the band had hoped for, many reviewers -- including Alexis Petridis of The Guardian -- hailed it as the band's best record. Indeed, the quality of the melodies makes it one of the top 10 records of the year. Doves recently played an acclaimed show utilizing a Bulgarian choir. That bodes well for a future direction.

9) Justin Adams & Juldeh Camara -- Tell No Lies
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Les Triaboliques -- RiverMudTwilight

It's been a busy year for Justin Adams. Adams and Juldeh Camara have played two high-profile shows with Robert Plant (Adams was previously the guitarist in Plant's now dissolved band, The Strange Sensation).

He also recorded an album with Ben Mandelson and Lu Edmonds under the moniker Les Triaboliques. I've only just received a copy of the guitar supertrio's debut "RiverMudTwilight" -- thanks Simone at World Village! -- but I'm thoroughly taken with it. Very exotic. Almost no percussion. Each melody is created from complex interplay between instruments such as the electric guitar, acoustic guitar, t'bal, calabash, cumbus, bow-bus, saz, eSaz, mandolin, Hawaiian guitar, banjo, electric kabosy, barizouki, planktone, laouto, khomuz, and tilinka. (No, I hadn't heard of half of those instruments either!)

The music sounds like the work of a trio of wandering minstrels who have traveled through Morocco, Timbuktu, Istanbul, Havana, and Clarksdale. Transportive stuff that ranges from trance blues ("Crossing the Stone Bridge") to Latin swing ("Gulagurajira") to Gypsy jazz ("Ledmo").

As I noted in an interview with the guitarist, the second Justin Adams + Juldeh Camara album, released in the US earlier this year, is "atypical of collaborations between African and Western musicians, which too often sound like two disparate seams zippered together.... The first single, “Kele Kele (No Passport, No Visa)”, is built on a Bo Diddley-like riff and the flirtatious backing vocals of Zanzibar’s Mim Suleiman. “Banjul Girl” is so exuberant it would spark a stock market rally if it was piped into Wall Street."

10) Animal Collective -- Merriweather Post Pavilion

When guitarist Deakin left the band, Animal Collective compensated with free-form synths and roundelay vocal harmonies. At times, the album drifts a little too aimlessly but its best moments -- "My Girls," "Bluish," "Lion in a Coma," "No More Runnin'" -- have a beguiling hippie-ish innocence to them.

11) Tinariwen -- Imidiwan: Companions

The nomadic musicians from Mali have released their best, and most diverse, album, yet. (My full review, here.) Uncut magazine's pick for best album of 2009, no less. And with reviews in publications such as Spin, Rolling Stone, and even Entertainment Weekly, Tinariwen has successfully bridged the unfortunate divide between"world music" and mainstream rock.

12) Francis Dunnery -- There's a Whole New World Out There

The former frontman for It Bites takes a time out from his long-running solo career to revisit, and re-interpret, his former band's songs. Radically so. At first, I was bewildered by the laid-back, jazzy sound of these tunes. The It Bites originals were an effusive blending of rock, pop, and prog. By contrast, these sublime versions are laid back, ranging from Steely Dan-like jazz rock ("Whole New World") to chill-out reveries with a lounge-y feel ("Staring at the Whitewash").

The album is rounded out by a few new tunes (the lovely "Animal Life and Plant Life") and a few choice cover versions such as Robert Plant's "Calling to You (Dunnery played on the original). His take on Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is surprisingly sunny and one could imagine it fitting into a romantic comedy by Richard Curtis. It's an inspired reworking. Dunnery also nods to his early Genesis influence. A spare take on "Back in New York City" circles around the guitar riff, played on an acoustic guitar. Japan's "Still Life in Mobile Homes" is a slow ballad with soulful singing. A risky undertaking with a rich payoff.

13) Imogen Heap -- Ellipse

My review of "Ellipse" in Filter magazine, here: Imogen Heap’s delightful follow up to “Hide and Seek” has been gestating in the womb of her living-room studio for several years. An electro-pop auteur prone to insatiable tinkering, Heap has cannily generated interest in the long-running project through endearing vlogs and Tweets. She’s like Trent Reznor, only kookier.

Utilizing a similar sonic palette as its predecessor, “Ellipse” is all Pro-Tools graft. If songs such as “Earth” and “Tidal” feel encumbered by all the stratified layers of vocals, rhythms, and keyboard effects, their baroque mantles at least rest on a bedrock of indelible melodies. Heap has a keen ear for dynamics. The unexpected geyser of exuberance midway through “Swoon,” for example, makes it one of many tunes that will surely jostle for release as a single. And on the album highlight, “Canvas,” the desperation in Heap’s voice is echoed by traumatized violins as she wails, “I just can’t find the strength to pull you back.”

For all its shipwrecked romances, “Ellipse” doesn’t wallow in misery. In “Bad Body Double,” Heap even uses self-deprecating humor to fret about body issues before a date. Ultimately, that’s what distinguishes Heap: Her voice, by turns flighty and forlorn, has an honest personality often missing in pop.

14) Them Crooked Vultures -- Them Crooked Vultures

These gentlemen know a thing or two about great riffs. In Led Zeppelin, John Paul Jones came up with the riff to "Black Dog." The Foo Fighters' "The Pretender" packs the jolt of a defibrillator. Queens of the Stone Age created one of the great rock songs of the decade in the form of the ZZ Top-like "No One Knows" (which features Dave Grohl on drums). This supergroup -- one of many to emerge this year -- have created an exilirating record. At 66 minutes, it is far too long and at times one wishes an outside producer had edited out the more self indulgent moments.

Yet the best parts, such as "Fang" and "No Eraser, No Chaser," add up to more than the sum of the trio's parts. Best of all, "Scumbag Blues" sounds like the best song Cream never wrote as Josh Homme uncannily sounds like Jack Bruce. This is dangerous stuff to play in the car. Songs like Scumbag Blues, Bandoliers, and Warsaw are going to get me a speeding ticket one of these days.

15) Pearl Jam -- Backspacer

If only Kurt Cobain could hear them now. Once derided as a corporate entity trying to cash-in on the alternative scene, Pearl Jam quietly has amassed a devoted fanbase through a jam band ethos: marathon length shows with unpredictable set lists and a thriving business in official bootlegs.

On "Backspacer," the band sounds even more raw than on its previous, eponymously titled record. The opening trio of paint-stripping songs culminates with "The Fixer," the band's most ripping single in a decade. There's also a more reflective maturity than before. Eddie Vedder's valentine to a loved one on "Amongst the Waves" is unnervingly moving with its lyric, "If not for love, I would be drowning." It's followed by "Unthought Known," which sounds like a hymn of exultant gratitude. Both songs are anthemic without being at all bombastic or overwrought. Elsewhere, "Johnny Guitar," a song about bluesman Johnny "Guitar" Watson and his many girlfriends, showcases a playful streak at odds with the band's frowny persona.

16) Chris Isaak -- Mr. Lucky

Chris Isaak is still rock music's Dorian Gray. Returning with his first studio album in 7 years, Isaak still looks much the same as he did in 1988 (must be something in the brylcreem). The eternal bachelor has been writing song after song about heartbreak for several decades now and one is tempted to think he's the musical equivalent of the boy who cried "wolf." Yet his pleading voice -- imbued with the lingering ghosts of Roy Orbison and Elvis -- is so earnestly soulful that you may have to replenish the tearducts by the end of "You Don't Cry Like I Do" and "Breaking Apart" (a remake of an earlier song, recast as a duet with Trisha Yearwood). A typically strong collection of tunes, ranging from the rockabilly rip curl of "Mr. Lonely Man" to film noir grooves of "Very Pretty Girl." The falsetto-howl chorus of "We Let Her Down" is one of Isaak's best.

17) Butterfly Boucher -- Scary Fragile

Head over to the Australian's songwriter's MySpace page and take a listen. As I noted in my review of the album, "No matter how many times you uncork the choruses of "Gun for a Tongue" and "To Be Loved," they never lose their fizz."

18) Phoenix -- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

The French duo Air has sucked up all its creative oxygen. Thank goodness, then, that France has a great indie synth pop export to take their place. Phoenix released one of 2009's most unforgettable singles: "1901." The rest of the album boasts similarly hooky pop. The album should come with complementary party balloons.

19) The Swell Season -- Strict Joy

Musicians shouldn’t ignore the old adage, “Never date a coworker.” Just ask Fleetwood Mac. After their relationship ended, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová somehow stuck together to create a terrific breakup album. Full review here.

20) Muse -- The Resistance

Brian May told Mojo magazine that "The Resistance" is his favorite album of the year. Hardly surprising. He practically wrote it. "The United States of Eurasia" completes the coronation of Muse as the new Queen. This overblown glamslam record seems to have been made under a single guiding principle: excess all areas. It even includes a suite of orchestral pieces ("Exogensis: Symphony 1 - 3") that, fortunately, don't veer into Berlioz territory and area (relatively) restrained. Ultimately, the melodies are so catchy that resistance is futile. But Matt Bellamy has gone so over the top that Muse will surely have to pare things back on their next album. Terrible album cover, though, which is atypical for the band.

Porcupine Tree deepens it roots

If you've never heard of the band Porcupine Tree, don't worry. Neither has The New York Times, Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, or The Boston Globe. The British group, who are a progressive rock outfit in the truest sense of the term, have been thoroughly ignored by all those newspapers even though the band has sold out 2,500 seaters in each of those cities on its current tour. The band's brand 10th studio album, "The Incident," has also just entered the Billboard album charts at #25, with similar success in the UK. (For a crash course on the band, read my recent interview with its frontman, Steven Wilson, over at Pop Matters.)

The band amassed its sizable fanbase the old-fashioned way: relentless touring and word of mouth. (Not to mention consistently great albums.) They also relied on canny marketing, as this recent Billboard magazine article notes.

Porcupine Tree arrived in Los Angeles a couple of days ago to play its new album in its entirety to a sold-out Nokia Theater. "The Incident" is my favorite album of the year so far (I gave it a rave review in the current issue of FILTER magazine), which isn't surprising given that Porcupine Tree is one of my very favorite groups of all time. So much of "The Incident," is even better live, especially tracks like "Octane Twisted" and "Hearse." The highlight was "Time Flies," which you can watch in the music video above (this is a radio edit of an 11-minute epic).

After playing the entire first disc of the album and breaking for a 10 minute intermission, they returned for a dynamic second set of older selections. (I won't review the show here as I'm writing a piece on it for Carbon Nation, a fanzine for the band.) One of the very best shows I've seen by the band.

Of note: Rush's Neil Peart, who has touted the band in his books and praised PT drummer Gavin Harrison in interviews, was at the show and also present at the after party, albeit ensconsed behind a curtained cabanna.

SETLIST

First set: The Incident in its entirety

10 Minute intermission:

Second set: "Start of Something Beautiful," "Buying New Soul," "Sound of Muzak" "Anesthetize," "Lazarus," "Strip the Soul/.3," "Bonnie the Cat," "Way Out of Here" and "Trains."

UPDATE:
Rolling Stone's David Fricke, a supporter of the band in recent years, just reviewed "The Incident" for Rolling Stone. Read his effusive take on the album here.