The Love/Hate News Report 01.05.12: The One With The Obligatory Year End List

Posted by John Downey on 01.05.2012

News and thoughts on Lady Gaga's alleged Satanic ritual, the latest on Katy Perry's divorce, Sinead O'Connor's wacky marriage ups and downs, Justin Timberlake's rumored engagement to Jessica Biel, a look at the top 25 albums of the year and more!

Welcome to the only music news report that is still cheering Jericho's return, the Love/Hate News Report! It doesn't understand what "trolling" is. I tried to explain it, but they just called me a "hater" and a "hipster." Oh well.

Last week, I ruffled a few feathers by calling Childish Gambino's Camp the worst album of the year. To clarify: the difference between most of Gambino's lines and similar things said by, say, Jay-Z is that Jay-Z keeps at least a semblance of good taste in his lines. In contrast, Gambino's "best" lines are bothersome, though I'll admit that what rubs me the wrong way might appeal to someone else. Also, Gambino hate isn't limited to Pitchfork—Anthony Fantano of the Needle Drop reviewed the album weeks before Pitchfork got around to it and said basically the same thing that Pitchfork did. As for Lulu, hey, good for Chad, but I still think that Lou Reed and Metallica were trolling with that album.

Nick Krenn's Major Bands, Minor Labels has changed its format a bit, so if it wasn't your thing before, give it another chance. His other column, The Music 3R's, praises Lana Del Rey and disses Steve Tyler. In case you were wondering, no, Lana is not related to Sara. C.A. Bell's Ten Deep looks at the best of Brian Eno. Don't make me explain who Brian Eno is. Just...don't.

Oh, by the way, my brother got engaged last month. What's funny about it is that I didn't even know that he was dating someone. Anyway...

Okay, here's how this works: I find eight news bites per week, and complain about them. Except when I like them, in which case I'll rave about them. That is relatively speaking, of course. I'm a bit of a scoundrel who remains negative about most matters, so to let you know when I'm not trying to drown you in sarcasm/hate, I have helpful little visual reminders letting you know when I think something is a good thing. For reasons concerning symmetry, I've put indicators around the parts where I'm ranting.

If you don't agree with me, that's what the comment section is for. Go ahead and air your grievances in a matter that you find to be most appropriate. If you troll hard enough, I might cry. I will never admit to tearing up, of course, but you'll know when it happens when you get that warm feeling in your heart.

Anyway, let's get down to business...



Most news items are from 411 Music's newswire.

The Divorce Story Of The Week That Isn't Amusing In The Slightest
This is an old story by now, but in case you've been living under a rock, Katy Perry and Russell Brand have ended their marriage. Reports suggest that Perry and Brand simply couldn't find a suitable compromise to their differing lifestyles—she is a Christian woman in her 20's who still likes to party, he is a recovered addict in his 30's who would rather have extended conversations about spirituality than attend church. Frankly, I'm amazed that they got together in the first place.

The writing has been on the wall for some time (some have said that they knew the marriage wasn't going to last before it even began), but that doesn't give me satisfaction, nor should it give anyone any sort of joy. Making things worse is that there is no prenup, so either Perry will lose $20 million in this divorce or lawyers representing Perry and Brand will be butting heads for months in court. "But John," you might say, "Brand stands to make $20 million! How is that a bad thing?" Well, Brand seems like the kind of guy who enjoys the simple things in life, so it isn't unreasonable to imagine that Brand wouldn't know what to do with $20 million. Besides, he already has $15 million—what good would another $20 million do him?

Since I can't find any humor here, and since I think that most folks are too hard on Brand, and since I need a transition out of this story:




A Lot Of Celebrities Get Engaged And/Or Married
I report on celebrities getting engaged or married practically every week, but it seems as though a shit-ton of celebrities had stars in their eyes around New Year's Eve and Day. Here goes nothing:

-Justin Timberlake is rumored to be engaged to Jessica Biel. This hasn't been officially confirmed, but folks close to both have unofficially confirmed it. They've certainly been dating long enough to justify getting hitched—the couple has been off-and-on since 2007.

-American Idol finalist James Durbin married his girlfriend, Heidi Lowe. I'm not familiar with the guy, but any dude who can justify having only 85 people at his wedding is okay in my book.

-Aretha Franklin is engaged to her longtime boyfriend, William "Willie" Wilkerson. At around this time last year, Franklin had fallen ill, with close friends and fans concerned that her time was close (FYI, I know this because I reported on it in my first column). What a difference a year makes.

-Ricky Martin will be married to his boyfriend later this month. Obviously, this barely counts in the overall tally—Martin never explicitly stated when he got engaged, and he isn't married yet. Whatever, I'm counting it.

-Rochelle Wiseman of the Saturdays is engaged to Marvin Humes. She announced this news by posting a picture of herself and Humes sipping champagne in Antigua to Twitter. That's fucking boss.

-Wynonna Judd is engaged to her drummer. This will be Judd's third marriage. It's worth noting that Judd is a country singer and neither of her past husbands met an untimely death. Make of that what you will.

Congrats to all of the happy couples, and may all of these relationships last until at least 2013.




The Divorce Story of The Week That Is Actually Pretty Amusing
Sinead O'Connor got married in early December and filed for divorce last week. What happened? Well, let Sinead explain:

[After the wedding, w]e ended up in a cab in some place that was quite dangerous. I wasn't scared – but he's a drugs counselor. What was I thinking? That kind of messed everything up a bit, really. Within 3 hours of the ceremony being over, the marriage was kyboshed by the behavior of certain people in my husband's life.

Um…yeah. O'Connor also swore off marriage and stated that she doubts that she will ever date again. That might be for the best, all things considered. At least this relationship ended in quick order before these two became the laughingstock of the world.

(Late breaking news: O'Connor announced via Twitter that she is sticking it out with her husband after a "mad love making affair". Oh boy.)


Fun With Lady Gaga And Satan!
Here's a story that we'll never get a clear explanation of, and that might be for the best. One of the staffers at the Intercontinental Hotel in London claims that they saw Lady Gaga "bathing in blood as part of a Satanic ritual." That's nothing—three pigs have to be sacrificed to write this column every week. It ain't cheap, and it ain't easy, but there's no other way to do it.

A few 411mania commenters who are knowledgeable of Satanism quickly clarified that sacrifice is not a part of any Satanic ritual, so who knows what actually happened. It's possible that the staffer made this story up or that they didn't see something right. That said, it gives me an opportunity to post one of my guilty pleasures: a Lady Gaga song in G major. Good luck sleeping tonight!




Deaths In Music This Week
Larry Reinhardt, the guitarist for Iron Butterfly, passed away on January 2 due to complications resulting from an infection. Reinhardt, also known as "Rhino," had replaced Erick Brann for the band's Metamorphosis album and had an extensive solo career after the band broke up. He was 63.

Singer Kaye Stevens passed away on December 28. She is best known for her song "You Light Up My Life" and her frequent appearances on Johnny Carson's show. She had battled breast cancer for some time before she passed. She was 79.

On behalf of 411mania, I extend my condolences to the friends and family of the deceased.





The Love/Hate 2011 Top 25
First, though, a few notes:

-Yeah, I'm borrowing my own statements and write-ups for certain pieces. If you've read everything I've read, this might seem lazy, but (1) you probably haven't and (2) if I already summed up my feelings of an album earlier, why go over it again?

-Many of these albums also placed on my mid-year list, though in different order. My feelings on many albums changed quite a bit this year. Don't hate me for changing my mind.

-This is part of a much longer list. 21, Bon Iver, Bon Iver, and Strange Mercy are #28 through #26, respectively. These are just the albums that I could really get behind.

-If you're not familiar with any of these picks, please look up a sample. You've got Grooveshark, Spotify, and YouTube to choose from—the chances of one of these picks being "too obscure" are slim to none. Similarly, if you honestly think that I missed something, don't rag on me for forgetting it—just send a link my way.

-This list was compiled near the beginning of December, with the idea being that no good albums would come out in the last month of the year. That said, this month's Album To Love missed the cut and likely would have placed in the top 5.

25.) Random Axe, Random Axe
24.) Viscera, Jenny Hval
23.) Let England Shake, PJ Harvey
22.) Black Up, Shabazz Palaces
21.) A New Kind of House, Typhoon
20.) Days, Real Estate
19.) XXX, Danny Brown
18.) Wounded Rhymes, Lykke Li
17.) Return of 4Eva, Big K.R.I.T.
16.) House of Balloons, The Weeknd
15.) Own Your Ghost, 13 & God
14.) Within and Without, Washed Out
13.) Native Speaker, Braids
12.) The Reckoning, Needtobreathe
11.) Slave Ambient, War On Drugs

10.) Kaputt, Destroyer
I gave this album a perfect score at the beginning of this year, but I admitted in the review that I didn't completely "get" the album. I certainly liked the album—I wouldn't have given it a good score if I didn't, to say nothing of a perfect rating—but I didn't understand why Dan Bejar had made an album that sounded like it belonged in the 80's. And then I got it. Here's a summary of the inner monologue that got me to that point:

"Why did he make the album sound like it was made in the 80's? And why do I like it so much? I mean, I was born in 1986, so I have a romanticized view of the decade, but Bejar was born in 1972, so he saw the state of the world at the beginning of the decade when he was eight years old and was able to compare it to what the world looked like a decade later, which coincided with his 18th birthday and, in all likelihood, a growing feeling of disillusionment. It's almost as though he was trying to capture the feeling of an idealized world, practically a utopia, by bringing the decade to life again."

Cue light bulb.

9.) And So They Ran Faster…, Firehorse
This is one of the last two albums to make it onto this list, and it's a doozy. Leah Siegel has all of the best qualities of her female contemporaries and with less downside. Every song on And So They Ran Faster… would have been the high point on almost any other album released this year, and it only ranks as low as it does because of its late release. You may not be familiar with Firehorse, but one listen and you'll be singing her praises, too.

8.) Deerhoof vs. Evil, Deerhoof
This is the band's most experimental album yet, but that's not to say that it is scattershot or not fully formed. Every song on here plays like it came from the same mindset, with not a weak track on here. Those nonsensical "choruses" sung by Satomi Matsuzaki serve as the closest thing to a steady constant for these crazy tunes, and even them shits is out there: "This is a stickup", "Don't marry me, I'll sue you", "Me to the rescue, me to the rescue", etc. At its core, though, is a band that is having fun making some of the most fun music of the year, and it's hard to not crack a smile while listening to Deerhoof Vs. Evil. "But it's only a fun album," one might say, and I would say, "Exactly".

7.) What Were You Hoping For?, Van Hunt
This was brought to my attention along with Firehorse. Whereas Firehorse felt like an amalgamation of every strong female singer, Van Hunt encapsulates practically everything else—What Were You Hoping For? hops from rock to hip-hop to R&B to funk to punk. This would be a mess if the compositions weren't uniformly brilliant—which they are.

6.) Wild Flag, Wild Flag
How did I go without this album for most of 2011? This is exactly the kind of shit that I enjoy—fantastic rock 'n' roll made by some of the most talented living musicians (hell, I'll argue that Janet Weiss is one of the greatest drummers of all time). If you're wondering where all of my rock picks are…well, here you go. This is all of the rock you need. Enjoy.

5.) Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Girls
And here is the indie album of the year. Conversely, you can view Father, Son, Holy Ghost as a loose concept album about a man's love-hate relationship with America, alternating from ideally singing its praises ("Honey Bunny", "My Ma") to trying to find purpose in its weaker moments ("How Can I Say I Love You", "Vomit"). Or, you know, I could be looking too hard into a fantastic album.

4.) Whokill, Tune Yards
Transitive properties, folks. Deerhoof Vs. Evil is a batfuck insane fun album that made it onto my top 10. Whokill is a batfuck insane fun album that is better than Evil. Therefore, Whokill needs to have a place on my top 10.

3.) Punch Perm, Dream Jefferson
This is my favorite hip-hop/rap album of the year, but I don't think that this album contains the best rapping or beats. What Punch Perm has going for it, though, is that it has yet to wear out its welcome even though I've listened to it almost every day for the past six months. When these kids make a proper LP, I hope to buy it the day it comes out.

2.) All Eternals Deck, Mountain Goats
The album's greatest achievement is in its writing. On the surface, the writing is more about suggesting an image than telling a story, but anyone who digs into the lyrics will find that the image itself is the story. Then again, the Arcade Fire's The Suburbs also had great writing, but I rejected that album because it didn't have arrangements that helped drive its sentiments home. After all, you don't buy an album for the lyric sheet. All Eternals Deck doesn't suffer from the same pitfall—in fact, it features the best arrangements of any Mountain Goats album, and there is plenty of variation as well. Through it all is Darnielle's voice, which has changed very little over the years. It suggests both weakness and strength, and in the course of this album in particular, it works to great effect. This is the best album by the Mountain Goats, and for most of the year, I thought that this was the album to beat.

1.) Lillian: A Folk Opera, Ben Lear
I'm not into expansive indie-pop, and yet my favorite album of 2009 was Merriweather Post Pavilion by Animal Collective. I'm not into egocentric, hedonistic rap albums, and yet my favorite album of 2010 was My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West. I'm not into concept albums with relatively strict storyline interpretation, and yet Lillian: A Folk Opera by Ben Lear is my favorite album of 2011. I'm just going to guess that my favorite album of 2012 will be a reggae album recorded by a jam band led by Lenny Kravitz.

If I had to boil Lillian down to its most basic elements (and I feel as though I have to), I'd say that this is The Who crossed with the Fiery Furnaces. Like The Who's best work, there is a basic story outline to understand and enjoy, but under the surface is an untapped wealth of interpretation in spiritualism and biography that will more than satisfy any wise guy looking for meaning in his music. Like the best work of the Fiery Furnaces, large portions of the story are told through the music, and the whole thing is too damn fun to be ignored. Lear, of course, does not have to live up to expectations that The Who and the Fiery Furnaces have—for now, at least.

I'm aware that a concept album about a guy who goes on an underwater adventure for his lost love looks like a disaster at first and doesn't have a wide range of appeal. It certainly didn't appeal to me at first, and had Mr. Bell not praised this album so highly, I might have not given it a chance. Lillian works, though, and it works in so many different ways. If you're the kind of person who likes to digest individual songs, you'll enjoy stuff like its title track, "Imaginary Friends," and "It's a War." If you prefer to listen to entire albums at a time, Lillian plays out like one cohesive place, too. Everything about this album brings me great joy, much more than any other album that came out this year. That's why it is my favorite album of the year.

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Well, the year is over, and apparently, the end of the world is coming. I think we all know what this means—we must all stop giving a fuck about so much stuff. Also, it means that it is time for This Month's Album To Love!

The last album from 2011 to receive this distinction is Undun by the Roots. I'm actually not a big fan of the Roots, but this is their best effort in quite a long time. Colored me surprised. Enjoy.



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Albums To Love From 2011
January: Kaputt, Destroyer
February: Higher Learning 2, Fashawn
March: All Eternals Deck, Mountain Goats
April: Return Of 4eva, Big K.R.I.T.
May: Own Your Ghost, 13 & God
June: Blacked Up, Shabazz Palaces
July: Punch Perm, Dream Jefferson
August: Watch The Throne, Jay-Z and Kanye West
September: Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Girls
October: Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, M83
November: iSLAND, G-Side
December: Undun, The Roots

If you disagree with any of my picks, don't freak out—I'm just one grumpy dude. 411mania will put up plenty of lists in the next few days, and chances are you'll agree with something printed on this site. In the meantime, check out Earbuddy>'s year-end list!

Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five

And here it is, this week's Video To Love…



THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!
See you in seven...if you're lucky.

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