Listening • Diamonds From the Trough, Part 1

Heaving in another year’s haul, diamonds gradually reveal themselves as I trawl through lists and lists of the year’s best music—people distilling a year of high energy and much distraction. It’s being summed up with usual swish, swash, and style by Said the Gramophone right now. They and their kin do more than wave dimmed torches across now crackly and over-played records. The diamond filled troughs they fill this time of year set us up well for thrills and spills in 2009, bidding us Good Hunting!

Diamonds, an indie-pop band worthy of year-end honor-roll, sing of their namesake. “Diamonds” is carved by a whole generations’ heartbreak sighs, from lungs that were great celebrated church organs in their day. Heavy words are echoed by light appreciative voice, tempered by dragging feet. Six tracks follow with brisker pace, much spirit, and a cosmic restorative power: sharp and proud tones of drum, voice, and charged strings. It all builds to the stunned power-up of “The Waking.” But it all begins with “Diamonds” and that moment when the friends dozing in the backseats start to sing with you; by the end of the record they are right there, wrapping their arms around you and your journey, all watching the sun and the moon speed across the windshield. Get the record—It’s free!—and see for yourselves.

I began the year by finding a diamond in the dirt: The Rollercoaster Project’s electronica. Those diamonds were really made of ice, melting away as thaw came. A presidential election in a country I had just met and thoughts about climate crisis moved me in new directions.

Like the end of the Diamonds record, “The Waking” happened, and I got going. Arriving in December there’s a lot I missed, a lot of good stuff to hear, so many diamonds being shined up for their final viewing as new, just dug up, bright things with an inner light will soon compete with them.

Sasha Frere Jones keeps his best of list updated all through the year—a marvelous way of doing it. Also crucial are people like Eric Harvey, who runs the Marathonpacks blog, reviewing records all year long, calibrating our sense of speed, gush of positivity. Amongst great fanfare—oh the joy of only reviewing things I like—temperance is virtuous.

I really like these list-bearers, not just for their voices, but for their heart and promise. They are prologue and talisman to a new year prime for good hunting for good things and, most importantly, for good people to share these things with—the old media can’t match labor of love these independent voices sustain all through the year.

I’ll continue gorging on these lists and try to dig up some more small diamonds before the year is out. But for now, just one observation regarding Elliot Spitzer & the diamond rated escorts: NASA (NASA!) got there first. “Spitzer’s Eyes Perfect for Spotting Diamonds in the Sky.” —Mike Smith, Dec. 15, 2008

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Listening • When a Stunt Pair Is Not

Stunt pairings come in all forms, be it award presenters, buddy/action flicks, or commercial endorsements. And who can forget those irascible “maverick” twins of way back before the election? I know, it seems like ages ago now.

When it comes to music collaboration, however, the question must be asked, is it a stunt pairing if both participants are already stunts in and of themselves? Regard the recent pairing of Kool Keith and Tom Waits on a track produced by NASA. (Not that NASA.) Kool Keith, aka Keith Matthew Thornton, has certainly made a name for himself as one of the more gonzo elements of modern hip-hop, having come up with nearly as many alter egos as he has albums. He’s also, on rare occasion, been institutionalized. Tom Waits, well, the man simply is an institution, one that many have imitated, but none have achieved the same adulated, bonkers status. While Waits hasn’t had nearly as many alter egos as Keith, he’s certainly turned in a great performance or two.

What’s most striking about the pairing is how well it works. The track, “Spacious Thoughts,” from NASA’s upcoming debut album sounds like it could easily fit in either artist’s catalog. Considering the disparity of genre and tone of the catalogs in question makes this track a genuine oddity, but an exceedingly fortunate one. For those of us who occasionally enjoy a good howl at the moon, this is a real righteous kill. —Erik Bryan, Nov. 7, 2008

» Listen to "Spacious Thoughts" at Pitchfork

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