February 1st, 2009: The Month in Literal Review

January In Literal Review

Most Interesting, Music:

Fader's hyper-victorious My President Is Black freeload.

Most Interesting, Film:

The Watchmen legal saga found resolution.

Weirdest:

AICN interviewed accidental superstar Soulja Boy.

Biggest World Event:

Obama was inaugurated as the President of the United States.

Best Song:

Animal Collective, "My Girls"

Best Film:

The Wrestler

Reviews

Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion
I fully understand the hesitation when approaching an album that's hyped as hard as this one. There are a lot of expectations to deal with, which has the tendency of ruining an experience. (See: My thoughts on Che so far)
This, however, is the real deal. This is an album worth getting very excited about.
The MP3s floating around are good - damn good - but they are amplified a thousandfold in their context within the album. Brothersport becomes a shaking, pulsing, breathing climactic burst; My Girls becomes a glistening, pounding gateway. If there was any question about album-based musicians surviving the digital era, consider that shit answered.
MPP is a critic's dream, not only in terms of quality, but because it's so rife with details to mention. The album is a veritable treasure trove of constant surprises. Take the buried grower "Taste," which has a wide array of smart little details: the heartbeat percussion, or the subtle use of an instrument which is about to explode on Lion in a Coma, etc. Oh, and I'll go on record with my theory that "Guys Eyes" is AC's spazzed out and horny as hell take on "God Only Knows." Listen again, and you'll hear what I'm talking about.
As Animal Collective have mentioned in interviews, this is the first album made with a sense of their history as a band, and it shows. MPP departs in all sorts of key ways, sonically and thematically, but it anchors itself, too; "Bluish" opens with a washed out guitar that seems plucked from Feels, and "No More Runnin" feels like "Cuckoo Cuckoo" with the tension all drained out.
There's enough content here for a thousand or more adjectives. I won't praise the album's genius, because that job has been handled by countless other critics; instead, I'll take a stab at sketching a roadmap for the intrigued fence-sitters. It's everything wild and free about Animal Collective, while paradoxically far more natural-sounding while being far more grounded in the electronic. And it's a hell of a joy ride.

Antony and the Johnsons, The Crying Light
We settle for a lot of silliness when it comes to male vocalists. We accept vaguely decent performances on such a regular basis that when a truly powerful male voice comes around, it tends to catch us off guard. And really, "caught off guard" is everybody's first reaction to Antony Hegarty; his surreal warble, his lilting power, these alien turns take some getting used to.
It's worth it. On The Crying Light, Antony has synthesized an incredible amount of emotion and introspection, channeling it through relatively straightforward compositions which act as guides through the intense emotional realm Antony occupies.
Song to song, there's nothing you'll want to skip. "Epilepsy is Dancing" softly and sweetly describes something excruciating, a duality far from unintentional. "Kiss My Name" frolics where the titular track whispers, and little more can be said about "Another World," a sincere and arresting work of intimate introspection. Of course, there's tour de force "Daylight and the Sun," which ruptures and careens and melts in a way befitting of Antony's countless nature metaphors.
If you let it into your heart, The Crying Light will wreak havoc, knocking you down and then lifting you back up, on new terms. It's an album almost too painful to withstand, but too gorgeous to look away from.

Personal:

It's been a strange weekend. Lots of delirious stuff, lots of confused walking, and sadly, not as much productivity as I'd hoped. I took a bus tonight that went through very strange and unjustifiably familiar territory. I feel a little bit upside down.

I've got a lot of work to do in this next half hour.

2009 FILMS SEEN: 1.5
2009 SONGS ON MY ITUNES: 195
Current Computer Situation: MacBook Pro, confused.