At the risk of getting New-Age-y on yer ass, I find myself drifting more and more towards a narcotic sort of ambience when it comes to choosing music lately. I love Chillwave (a trite label for a type of music that is driven more by electronics than guitar, but seems appropriate when you dive headlong into it) like Washed Out, whose new record Within and Without is a woozy masterpiece. But even more, I enjoy the haunting, epic drama of Instrumentals - probably enabled somewhat by my choice of profession, floating around on waves of sound while I work has become one of the best parts of my day. Here's three of the best I've heard of late.

Rainforest (EP) - Clams Casino
Clams Casino = Mike Volpe, producer with a resumé that includes Lil' B and Soulja Boy, and he's put a unique spin on a sort of instrumental hip-hop with experimental but totally accessible aspirations. The project digs not subtly into a West Coast terroir (with titles like Natural and Waterfall) and when contrasted with some angelic vocal sampling and gritty noise, really takes the music into a niche that's hard to label. Unless you're an aficionado of Burial, you've never heard anything quite like this. Highly recommended for driving to as well.

Owl Splinters - Deaf Center
Haunting but not gloomy, epic sounding but not overwhelming, a cello and a piano and top notch production skills combine for a would-be soundtrack to whatever you find yourself doing while listening - profound and beautiful.

Ravedeath 1972 - Tim Hecker
A little jarring, Tim Hecker masterfully mixes church organ, shoegaze synth and industrial noise to produce a wall of dissonant beauty- it's a heavy workout but I find it infinitely rewarding.

build a rocket boys! elbow

Maturity is a bad word when it's applied anywhere in the world of rock. A world ruled by drippy pop stars who paint you escapist portraits of non-stop parties, the "empowerment" found in sex and empty-hearted revenge fantasies leaves little room for music by those who've lived a little, have a story to tell, and choose to tell you in a way that won't insult your intelligence.

I used to (flippantly) call Elbow "Coldplay for smart people," but that sells them pitifully short. Warm, meticulously detailed pop songs that are enriched by the small things: shaker percussion, carefully placed strings with a restraint that is rewarded when they kick it out and raise their voices at just the right moment. This is a band that has been making top notch pop records for several years, and hit it reasonably big last time out with The Seldom Seen Kid, which yielded "One Day Like This," a song that won them a Mercury Prize and subsequently became the backdrop for TV montages, movie trailers and hoisted what had been a cult band into an unfamiliar spotlight.

Their reaction to all that? To act like they'd been there before. To put out a record that is the sound of a band growing creatively and moving steadily forward. Listen to "Lippy Kids," "Open Arms" and "Jesus is a Rochdale Girl" and be glad that there's still bands out there that make music for grown-ups, biting but rarely cynical, able to take a look back without being too nostalgic, and warm without tripping over sentimentality. Build A Rocket Boys! came out just yesterday, and frankly, I can't wait to see what this band is going to do next.

Other great Elbow records: Cast of Thousands, Leaders of The Free World, The Seldom Seen Kid.
Other bands that sing great grown-up rock but would probably frown on that characterization: The National, Wilco.

Whatever you think you know about Hardcore is wrong.

With a nod (not a subtle one) to his previous life in Black Flag, Keith Morris puts together a band and a blistering sound that recalls the best of what was great about Hardcore with OFF!: First Four EPs.

Keith Morris has had some rough times post-Black Flag/Circle Jerks. Popping up in interviews from time to time, battling diabetes and dim job prospects (I remember an LA Weekly interview with him talking about his work in a restaurant), life has not been a bed of roses for him. But a little perseverance and a lot of help from Dimitri Coats (from Burning Brides, google "Poor House" and "Heart Full of Black" for a look at his brand of stoner rock), Steve McDonald (from underrated pop punkers Redd Kross), and drummer Mario Rubalcaba (Rocket From The Crypt, Black Heart Procession, Pinback, and my favorite reference of all, Battalion of Saints), OFF!: First Four EPs is a surprisingly restrained, completely authentic document of early 80s Hardcore that is less a nostalgia trip and more a contemporary reaction to the time we live in.

When I say restrained, I'm not referring necessarily to the music - Sixteen songs pummel you for seventeen minutes in what sounds refreshingly like one-take. It's more about the lack of finger wagging or any of that "if you weren't there you'll never understand" bullshit history lesson- just a raging set of songs that capture the fury of a time past in amber for anyone who wonders what it was really all about. Tastefully packaged with art from Raymond Pettibon (the vinyl EPs come with a booklet, complete with notes and illustrations by Mr. Pettibon that recall his best work with SST), this project is a musical, artistic and anthropological triumph.

Weather or Not: A Lame (But True) Metaphor for Life

When I was seven I was living in a house on Hope Street in Huntington Park, California with my mom, dad, my brother and two sisters. We were a pretty typical family unit, and if it wasn't idyllic, as I remember it, things were mostly okay.

One afternoon on a rainy day after school, I looked out our front window, and the rainstorm which had been pelting southern California for a couple of days was in the process of breaking up. The instability of the air above us had produced a curious scene, something I've not encountered since.

Rain was falling on almost exactly half of our house - while the other side had sunshine and was relatively dry. I asked my mom if I could go outside. She said no, and I put on a jacket and did it anyway (things are not much different from that today, much to my mom's chagrin. I'm responsible for more than my share of the gray hairs on her head.) The rain continued to sprinkle on half of our lot, while the other side was aglow with the sunshine drying the pavement. This went on for a good five minutes, and I stood there the whole time, watching and wondering which way the weather would turn.

Eventually the stormy half blew out, the sky opened up with brightly illuminated clouds, a powder blue sky, and a couple of partial-rainbows formed as the rain moved away. Too young to see this as any kind of a sign, I was just happy the rain was going away so I could go out and play. But in the movie of my life, it would have been the irony-laced opening scene - In less than two years my dad would bail out on us, we'd have to move, and things were anything but typical after that.

I've stood on that border of dark and light ever since - I battle a darkly cynical streak, counterbalanced with an almost Pollyanna-like naivete that things will somehow work out - and I hang on for dear life as I ride the pendulum back and forth between these two places in my head.

Here on the cusp of 2011, I might as well be standing in that yard watching the elements again - half a dark sky and half a gateway to heaven stand before all of us, and I've decided I'm going with the bright side - something which hasn't always been that easy for me. But fueled with the love and support of a wife who's better for me than I possibly deserve, and a son whose growing intellect (and wicked sense of humor) are a joy to watch everyday, I can see the way to go. Add to that friends and family who know what a odd bird I am and still agree to talk to me, well, I've got a list of blessings too long to count.

The dark and cloudy side is still with me - I think maybe it keeps me from getting complacent - it comes and goes. But now I know that eventually it'll blow away.

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year.
And as the man said, let's make it a good one...

The Pefect Holiday Gift for Just About Everyone On Your List

If you've got a picky bugger on your Holiday shopping list, why not stuff their, uhhh, stocking, with Emek: The Thinking Man's Poster Artist, from Gingko Press - available on Amazon.com and finer bookstores everywhere! For anyone who loves music, this astounding collection of sheer brilliance from Portland artist Emek will more than fit the bill. 272 pages and not a lull in it! Weighing in at around 4 lbs. it's gonna take a big-ass stocking, but you can be confident yer showin' the rocker in yer life the love with Aaarght! from a true master of the rock poster genre.

Emek's work stands out in a crowded field of rock poster artists with an incredible set of references - his sense of humor and meticulous artistry is revealed in stunning detail. It was a labor of love - we spent five years putting it together - and I think it shows.

All kidding aside, it came out right purty - I'm pretty damned proud of it. Happy Holidays everyone! – John

F*ck Top Ten Lists - Mine, Yours, Everyone's.

It's that time again! Time for everyone to shun everything they've actually been listening to and post the most important music of the year in a top ten list to pump up their self image... Okay, that might be a little cynical, but raise your hand if you've never posted a top ten list that was at least part bullshit - look, there's no hands up! Tell me you've never scanned Pitchfork's Top Hundred to make sure you didn't forget something "important" - like making sure you include something like Billy Bragg, or Antony And The Johnsons, so you feel like you're down with it and don't risk confirming for all your smart friends that you're a pop-leaning dolt. Well, throw off the yoke of status anxiety... tell everyone what you've really been listening to - however uncool it might be. Sade, Mariah Carey, Gaslight Anthem, whatever it is - come forward and be proud!

(On the other hand, if you've been listening to Styx, Foreigner, Kansas, Journey, Creed, or Rush, please keep it to yourself. That shit's just embarrassing.)

All right - in no particular order - there's no #1, and this is a mix of 11 or so albums and singles that I wore out this year, because that's just the way I roll...

Voyager One - Geography (EP)
Hooray Space Music! 1000 Miles, 1000 Deaths = my favorite single o' the year.

Brian Eno - Small Craft On a Milk Sea
Moving, eclectic, beautiful. I doubt I'll ever tire of it and I've got the attention span of a gnat.

Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma, and Pattern+Grid (EP)
Talk about down with it, this guy's doing not just what's next, but what's coming after that too.

Autolux - Transit, Transit
They tap into Sonic Youth a little too faithfully at times - but the record's solid. They also merit special mention for their sleepy interview with Jason Bentley on KCRW earlier this year. Jason's got better taste in music than 99.9% of the world (but never gets to play any of it on Morning Becomes Eclectic) and Oh God, are his interviews painful to listen to. At one point I'm pretty sure the band was getting so annoyed with Jason's cheerful "how're you doing?" line of questioning I was hoping they'd stir from their slumber and bludgeon him to death on the air. (Note: Almost all shoegaze-leaning bands work for me.) (Note #2: Jason, whenever a radio show is called "influential" that's a codeword for "boring as shit"...Please go back to the night show and start breaking music soon...)

Superchunk - Majesty Shredding
Not everything works on here, and some of it definitely could have used a little polish, but there's four songs on here that will make you want to jump and down no matter what an old fart you are. I'm rarely nostalgic but I'm really glad this band is still kicking.

Giant Sand - Blurry Blue Mountain
Smacks of time spent porch-sitting and spinning yarns, Howie Gelb comes out of the desert and drops another great collection of stories on us all - if you like Calexico, this is required listening.

LCD Soundsystem - This Is Happening
See notes on Flying Lotus about not just doing what's next... The Unshaven One reigns o'er everything smart and danceable again.

Deerhunter - Halcyon Digest
Gets more listenable with each record, and not in a mainstreamy way - painfully smart and sublime.

No Age - Everything In Between
Everything they release is my new favorite record, this is no exception.

The Fall - Your Future, Our Clutter
Whouldathunkit - Mark E. Smith survived to put out a brilliant record. Bravo.

Black Keys - Brothers
I hated Led Zeppelin, yet love bands heavily influenced by them - ironic, no?

Just missed: Champaign, Illinois by Old 97's, Teen Dream by Beach House, Astro Coast by Surfer Blood and Broken Bells.

Notable for it's absence: Suburbs by Arcade Fire - See my screed about "important" music and wake me when this band is over...zzzzzzzz.

Happy Holidays and Love to you all!

John's History of Dating: Part One: From Jr. High to College

Next Week: Part 2: The Cindy Years