ARTICLE JUMP
All five of these groups all have one thing in common for me this year, despite their disparate sounds or aural motifs; I was exposed to them this year without having any knowledge of the band prior to 2008. All five of them have a uniqueness and flavor that make them stand out from the packs and hordes that work at trying to make music.
- Have A Nice Life
- Amenra
- True Widow
- She & Him
- City of Ships
Have a Nice Life is without a doubt the biggest surprise to grace my ears this year and from very early in the year at that. Their debut record, Deathconsciousness, is a the culmination of a labor of love and a ridiculous double CD set that clocks in at well over two hours of time and a booklet that establishes one hell of a context and concept in which the Have a Nice Life experience occurs.
So I see Amenra for the first time in a little club in Philadelphia and am widely impressed by the power that this group displays. Their newest record, Mass IIII, then does not disappoint in that department. Finally, as the year closes out, the band releases a book, which besides being an art book, that also details the band's philosophical approaches to music as well as art and in some respects, life. All of this is impressive to say the least; but equally impressive is that the band is a project that is passing the ten-year mark.
Ever since I chanced upon their album stream, this full-length has been in constant rotation on my computer. Quite literally, I had never heard of them prior and am glad that my chance exposure to them happened, as their self-titled debut is one of the better records to come out this year.
Although this duo is plastered all over some magazines' year-end lists and such, I genuinely enjoyed their album this year and was more than pleasantly surprised by its excellence. Seeing them was equally entertaining.
Another group that I was exposed to first in a live setting, City of Ships rips through their material with a kind of calculated reckless abandon (yes that is a paradox of sorts). On record they are just as fun and their potential is very evident. Hopefully, there will be more to come from this three piece.
(Bob)
