Turf War :: "For The Last Time"

Scuzzy rock and roll never seems to go out entirely of fashion, like brick architecture on American college campuses or suit jackets for dinner. But, Georgians, in geography not style, Turf War spit a no-nonsense version of rock that has largely been cannibalized in independent music by something allegedly more esoteric or thoughtful or market-driven. This type of unfiltered, whiskey on a sore throat, frustrated, splitting the seams music is only kept alive by bands like Dead Confederate and Henry Clay People. Suitably, Turf War called their record, Years Of Living Dangerously, and "For The Last Time" serves as a shout-along statement of existential reality. The chorus figures as a churning and depressing resolution to never get this hard up again. The final lyrics: "Now I'm goin' home" paired with the earlier "I'm runnin' out of the man in me" reflect an exasperation, we presume, perhaps stereotypically, from late nights, cigarettes and enough downers to pacify a small island nation. If this is hard living, we also presume there is no way that Turf War is serious about walking away from it. Especially not if we all scream-count "one, two, three, four!" into the final chorus.

 Listen :: Turf War - "For The Last Time"

Top 50 Songs of 2010 :: 40-31 [It's alright if you wanna come back]

40. Tallest Man On Earth - "Burden of Tomorrow"

In 2010 Kristian Matsson as Tallest Man On Earth, an unlikely Swede, so successfully tapped the American folk tree, the most common critical comparison was Bob Dylan. Perhaps a better precedent - and entirely more reasonable - would be Bon Iver, as shared makers of small, acoustic records that chart the depths of human sorrow with mournful vocals and little else. On "Burden of Tomorrow," Matsson's yelp and drawl sketch a universe full of metaphors rooted in nature. Perhaps with an eye toward Dylan and Vernon, he intones, "Rumor has it that I wasn't born/I just walked in one frosty morn." Surprise.

39. Wildlife - "Stand In The Water"

On one of the best debuts of 2010, Wildlife charged out of the gates with "Stand In The Water," replete with pounding drums and a unforgettable hook, "just as long as you're looking for me." This is all before the arrangement explodes into a sea of backing vocals and another assurance, "We're all going somewhere." It sounds a little like a more fully realised Wolf Parade demo, something absolutely going somewhere

38. Dead Confederate - "Run From The Gun"

A shabby chord progression and vocals that sound like they've been up all night before being recorded into a wax paper microphone are the backing of Dead Confederate's slow drive "Run From The Gun." The title lyric is sandwiched around the divine promise, "don't be afraid," while it remains unclear if this violence is real or imagined. The guitars project longing, the vocals agony, but the hook will stick in your cheek because it was built to do so.

37. Hooray For Earth - "Surrounded By Your Friends"

In 2007 it was fashionable to scream, "Where are your friends tonight?" Hooray For Earth offered an entirely optimistic response in 2010, with a chorus built on the title lyric and a church of chiming synths and swelling backing vocals. A cloying subject matter that never becomes cloying in practice as the band navigates this hopeful territory with aplomb and a knack for arty synth rock, like an indie rock Erasure. That is, hopefully, taken as a profound compliment.

36. Math and Physics Club - "Jimmy Had A Polaroid"

No band, and certainly no song, better captured the essence of a spinning, sunny summer than Math and Physics Club did with "Jimmy Had A Polaroid." The lyrics are built around a silly bit of nostalgia before the protagonist moved away. All that remained was this picture and these lost salad days spent getting dizzy in the park.

35. Glasser - "Home"

The stage name for Cameron Mesirow, Glasser delivered some combination of the industrial pop that has become currency in loft apartments and the cold, urban tribalism of label mates Tanlines. Mesirow's vocals emerge as the only source of warmth in the the freezing arrangement of xylophone and looping hand claps. Slowly, the sonics expand, becoming fully realized as "Home" swells behind her like the menacing storm front she alludes to in the song's first lyrics. She is gorgeous and haunting, as you might expect.

34. Northern Portrait - "New Favourite Moment"

Designed perfectly for a movie montage, Northern Portrait craft a slice of twee with tumbling guitars and a self-actualizing chorus. Left in the wake of a now defunct Lucksmiths, the band takes up the banner of shoe-shuffling, feel-good pop currently only rivaled by the Acid House Kings and Math and Physics Club in spirit and execution. Is it the Cure playing a Belle and Sebastian record or something less self-serious? They make no mistake, the answer sitting squarely in the title.

33. LESANDS - "Pretenders"

We saw LESANDS on two coasts and in two small rooms in 2010. One, a tiny art space in East LA and the other, a well-accented space in Park Slope, Brooklyn and each time their vibrating synthesizer anthems elevated the scene. "Pretenders" is their center piece, a pounding and buzzing dose of pop so relentless and infecting in its approach that you will have "roses, roses, roses ..." stuck in your head for weeks.

32. Magic Bullets - "Lying Around"

Magic Bullets delivered one of the most immediately accessible songs of the year on the yelping, Smiths-inspired "Lying Around." The lyrics trace the animative qualities of relationships, and the concurrent malaise in their absence. The guitars are playful and the bass line, frenetic. The final conclusion is a little slice of pop nihilism, "It doesn't mean a single thing."

31. The Vaccines - "If You Wanna"

The Vaccines are absolutely going to kill you in 2011, approaching US shores with as much unknown hype as any rock band we've seen since the early Arctic Monkeys singles in 2005. On first demo, "If You Wanna," the band etches their exit strategy for a failed relationship; just let her come back. It's alright if you wanna come back, they suggest, with something of a rye grin and no mention of what drove the separation in the first place. It's refreshing, a chorus this full of hooks, and unpolished and unconcerned with being either.

Dead Confederate :: "Run From The Gun"

During the recording of second LP Sugar, Dead Confederate played this game in the studio where they taped their empty PBR cans together, eventually creating multiple battle staffs. Then they fought each other. It is only a brief window, churlish and irreverent, into the band's process on what is ultimately a dark, hard-driving record. And perhaps not ironically, in anticipation of Sugar's Tuesday release, Dead Confederate is giving away the most approachable song on the record, "Run From The Gun." It is an instantly memorable, bluesy progression designed for mournful drives and licensing in self-serious movies with troubled protagonists. Contradictory given their studio antics? Well, this is one of the best rock songs of the year, without trying a lick to have anyone ever say that; how's that for a reversal?

Listen :: Dead Confederate - "Run From The Gun"

Sugar is out just about everywhere tomorrow.

Dead Confederate :: "Giving It All Away"

Dead Confederate were supposed to launch a grunge revolution that would seize us all and bury us with its power. This was based largely on an EP, a first record and a song, "The Rat" that seemed to have enough power to do so. This didn't happen but then again, Karl Marx thought 1848 was the year that would launch a seismic transformation of society. Powerful figures don't always get their timing right.

Of course, Dead Confederate are back with their second LP, Sugar and are giving away track 9, "Giving It All Away." Not the best song on the record (that would be "Run From The Gun" featured in the video above), "Giving It All Away" has a great second movement and is the same dark, lit-from-below rock we saw melting the Mercury lounge back in 2007 and 2008. Worth noting it was at that show that a major label A&R leaned over and said, "This is great but we could never sell it." That may be true, but just because they can't sell it doesn't mean you shouldn't buy it.

Listen :: Dead Confederate - "The Rat"

On The List :: Dead Confederate @ Mercury Lounge [10.9.08]

For five minutes at a time, Dead Confederate are the best band in the world ever. And in their second song of the evening, they prove it. Opening with something unbelievably languid (which, it's worth noting, all good bands can get away with), the band opens the door on "All The Angels," maybe their best and most transcendent moment. It churns with the neo-grunge sound this band is getting (somewhat) famous for and ends up with a chorus that chants, "this is not a white flag for you." If the theme is no surrender, I guess I can get behind that.

This starts earlier - maybe 10-months ago in the Mercury Lounge. Somewhere between four and six A&Rs are in attendance to see "the last show ever" for The Head Set. This is an unfiltered piece of industry charity. No one cares about The Head Set. Surprise, they're not the best band on the bill. In fact, they couldn't even stick with their unknown opener from Athens, Georgia: Dead Confederate. I look left and I look right and I ask the obvious: is no one interested in this band? They might be the best band I've seen in 2007. An A&R from Sony looks at his counter-part from Columbia and says, "....Yeah, I mean, we could never sell that." If the theme of night is unrequited excellence, I guess I can get behind that.

You and I both know they're only going to play six or seven songs tonight. When they play consensus album single, "The Rat" in the four spot, it doesn't seem too early. It's the most digestible song they have and if you put it in the middle of a mixtape of other rock songs from the last 12-months, someone would have to be brain-dead not to stop and say, "what the hell was that?" If the theme of the night is grunge is back, I guess I can get behind that.

The stage seems a little too clean and a little too put together. It takes away from the darker atmospheric quality of the band. They don't use stage lights but light from below. It supposed to make everything look edgy. It works and it doesn't. The crowd is a little too obedient and a little too polite for evil. If the theme of the night is contradictions, I guess I can get behind that.

Dead Confederate, in total, aren't the best rock band in the world tonight. But, in doses, they can be. The theme of the night can be segmented. And I can get behind that.

Listen :: Dead Confederate - "The Rat"