Jeremy Shatan

NYC

The Walkmen - Heaven
I've been along for the ride with Hamilton Leithauser & Co. since the first album and it has been a joy to hear them grow. Each album has either expanded on their sound or explored further reaches within in it. Even in the context of their progression, Heaven is a bold and startling leap forward. Perhaps touring with Fleet Foxes (and working with their producer, Phil Ek) gave Leithauser the confidence to wipe away the reverb and just sing out. His crystal clear tenor perfectly embodies songs, that for all their individuality, touch the elemental core of why we sing in the first place. There's something elemental about Heaven that looks back to bedrock artists like Buddy Holly - and even further back, to the earliest troubadours. The Walkmen connect with the lifeblood of music and directly to my heart.

I'm Writing A Novel - Father John Misty (Fear Fun). Just on brilliant song on an album full of them. The lyrics are phantasmagoric and hilarious, tossing off zingers, but somehow engagingly human as well. See FJM live for the full experience. Remember, his reality is realer than yours.

Breton. After a series of EP's starting in 2010, these London based art-rockers released their debut album, Other People's Problems, in 2012. Calling on FatCat Records label mate Hauschka to provide string arrangements (which they then chopped & screwed), they brought a new level of ambition to their first album-length statement. The lyrics may ask more questions than they answer but mesh perfectly with the collaged layers of electronics and live instruments. They also released the excellent Blanket Rule EP in 2012 and toured Europe and the U.S. They're well on their way & deservedly so. (Full disclosure: I'm thanked in the liner notes, mainly for being the first person to talk about them in the U.S.)

Probably Fear Fun, the Father John Misty album. Having followed J.Tillman's solo career with more admiration than love since about 2008, I was knocked sideways by his new persona. It just seemed to unleash something in him - the more extroverted songs, the hip-swinging, pissed-off stage presence, the versatile voice. Don't get me wrong, there are treasure's to be mined (No Occasion, for example) in the work of J.Tillman, but Father John is a whole new thang.

While I'm not the biggest Neil Young fan, I have connected deeply with his work. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, Ragged Glory, Harvest Moon and On The Beach are all records I hold near and dear. Hearing all the talk about Psychedelic Pill, I got excited. After all the tossed off records about cars, war and guitars, I thought this might be one for me. Then I heard the thing. It's like demos for Powderfinger or Cortez the Killer, over and over again. He reaches for profundity and misses - over and over again. The lyrics are so ham-handed, you could make a sandwich. And, let's face it, once you get past the glory of his tone, he's not much of an improviser. What made it more of a turkey for me was the hipster genuflecting. Enough already - go play with your train set, Neil.

I got to see Father John Misty twice - and both times he proved himself Performer Of The Year. He takes on this wonderful persona, a pissed off but soulful guy who really wants to have fun, but it always ends up going south somehow. The songs are wonderful and his voice just keeps getting better. Catch him when he comes back in January - I'm tempted to see him again!

Synth based stuff is more and more prevalent - Twigs (great), Grimes (not so great) and others came with a very electronic sound. The Divine Fits featured some hypnotic synth sounds that sounded straight out of Conny Plank's Berlin Studio, ca. 1974.

I really hate Adele, so I was sick of the Skyfall theme song before I even heard it. What's with the Sky FOAL when it CrumBOWL"?

There were probably worse songs (One Direction, Psy, Taylor Swift, etc.) but I particularly enjoy complaining about that one.