Here’s one that slipped through the cracks from my time writing for Hysteria. I have been a La Dispute fan ever since their debut Australian tour back in 2009. I gotta say, it’s a remarkable transition to go from playing abandoned houses and rehearsal studios to the Corner and the Metro. I’m glad I got to see it all go down. This feature is okay – I think Jordan was still getting used to the idea of people talking to him about his band, and I think I was still getting used to the idea of talking to people about their bands. Call it a work in progress!
– DJY, May 2016
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As an album, Wildlife is the type of release that feels wholly satisfying – and that has almost as much to do with the context as it does the album itself. The album in the wake left after 2008’s Somewhere at the Bottom Between Vega and Altair, its particularly fiery take on emotive post-hardcore resonating with audiences worldwide. As excellent as Somewhere was, however, it simply couldn’t tide over the band’s more eager fans – a new album was needed to quench their thirst.
“Yeah, it’s been nearly three years since the last record,” says Dreyer, calling from California in the midst of the band’s seemingly endless touring life. “We’ve been keeping occupied with some smaller releases in that time – we did another Here, Hear. EP and we did a split with our good friends in Touche Amore. This last year or so, though, has just been spent piecing the record together. We planned ahead and put a lot of thought into how it would sound – and we honestly couldn’t be prouder of how it’s turned out.”
Although Dreyer feels that Somewhere and Wildlife are quite different records to one another, he is also aware that the comparisons between the two are inevitable. When it’s suggest that there is more of a linear concept to Wildlife than there was on their debut, Jordan notes that particular train of thought is on the right track. “We definitely had an idea of what we wanted it to sound like and what we wanted it to be about,” he said. “It’s important to us to create something that is very much an album experience, something that you can listen to from start to finish. We didn’t want that to be the only way that you listened to it, though – we really wanted to make sure that each track had its own individual merits, too. Essentially, we wanted Wildlife to be something perceived both as a whole and by the sum of its parts.”
In this regard, it’s safe to say that La Dispute have succeeded. As well as containing some of the best songs the group have ever written – the devastating “King Park,” the unbridled aggression of “Harder Harmonies” and the bare-bones honesty found in “a Letter” – it flows with a very smart sense of cohesion and connectivity. It’s quite safe to say that Wildlife is the band’s crowning achievement, with a sound that not only expands from the foundations laid on Somewhere at the Bottom, but also expands into new musical territory previously untouched.
“We weren’t exactly looking for a specific sound,” says Dreyer on the songwriting process of Wildlife. “It certainly required us to cover a lot of different areas, because of the lyrical nature of the songs. We never sat down and specifically said that we were going to write a heavier record or a softer record or whatever. More than anything, we just found what we were writing and recording was a natural progression from what we had done in the years previous. A lot’s happened in that time, y’know, and we’ve all experienced a lot of things – it just felt like we were bringing everything that we had learned to the table this time around.”
As with any La Dispute release, the album has a strong lyrical focus. With a myriad of literary influences (see the Here, Hear. experimental EPs for proof of this), the songs bring its listeners into a deeply personal and often quite dark area of the characters’ lives; and this is arguably more prominent on Wildlife than there has been on any other of the band’s releases. “A lot of the songs on Somewhere were about other people,” says Dreyer, who is the band’s sole lyricist.
“It was kind of my first proper attempt at conveying my ideas of storytelling. I feel that’s definitely progressed on this record – I felt as though I really needed to step up and convey a more personal perspective on what has happened to other people. There were a couple of interactions that I’ve had with people these last few years that ended up being turned into songs. I felt it was important that their story was told, but also that my viewpoint on their story was conveyed as well.”
Although nothing from Wildlife was previewed when the band toured in January of this year, the quintet were still able to effortlessly hang the Sold Out sign on several of their tour dates; once again engaging a cult craze with many fans travelling to a series of shows or even the entire tour. “That was pretty incredible,” says Dreyer with an incredulous laugh. “I mean, the shows were a bit bigger than last time, and we made a lot of new friends – and we got to see a lot of people from the first time around, too. That was really special – Australia is always so good to us, and we just can’t believe our luck sometimes.”
In case you missed out on part one, you can check out the previous 20 songs here. If not, then let’s get right back into it…
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80. Manchester Orchestra – Top Notch
Four albums in and Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull is still searching. Not just for himself, or some kind of greater truth; but for what can be found and what can be learned in the ways other people. He remains one of the poignant and powerful voices within contemporary indie rock, and this is cemented with the resolute, belligerent opener to April’s Cope. An occasionally-cacophonous affair, Hull remains centred at its core. “I know there’s no way to fix it” isn’t a line delivered with despair – it’s a line delivered with acceptance. The search continues.
79. sleepmakeswaves – Something Like Avalanches
The last twelve months have seen sleepmakeswaves translate their cult status among fans of local music into something far greater than any of them could have anticipated: top 40 chart positions, ARIA and Triple J award nominations and a reputation as our single greatest post-rock export. At the centre of this has been “Something Like Avalanches,” which lead us into their exceptional Love of Cartography while also serving as quite possibly their single finest moment. Its whisper-to-shout progressions, seemingly-endless array of left-hooks and bursts of energy tidily summarise why we’re dealing with one of Australia’s most important bands right now.
78. Run the Jewels feat. Zach de la Rocha – Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)
A hip-hop behemoth, an effortlessly-cool underground king and one of the true rock revolutionaries of the 90s – what could possibly go wrong? On what was one of the year’s most badass numbers, Mike and Jaime bark with authoritative force over malfunctioning, bass-gurgling beats; dropping references to everything from Al Pacino to The Anarchist Cookbook. This all happens before leading in the former Rage Against the Machine frontman on a verse that is potentially his most vital since The Battle of Los Angeles a whole fifteen years ago. Old dogs, new tricks and a certified banger to show for it.
77. Mere Women – Our Street
The idea of impermanence within the confines of a relationship isn’t something that’s often brought up in songwriting – we’re either at blossoming, tender beginnings or the hateful, bitter end. “Our Street” is a song that looks at that moment where you see the end in sight – the hook of “I’ve walked down this street so many times” is one of both familiarity and frustration through boredom. It’s backed by some of the best guitar sound on any record in 2014; as well as a minimal but noticeable shade of accessibility shining through the band’s art-rock exterior. Misery loves company.
76. The Decemberists – Make You Better
Colin Meloy’s days of drowning children, barrow boys and giant whales are behind him. That’s not to suggest that he’s lost any of his imagination in his hyper-literate songwriting, but more that he’s focused back in on reality. On his band’s first single in four years, he guides his acclaimed wordplay through a romance that seeks co-dependence and relit flames while maintaining an honesty about what it all means. It’s unpretentious in its delivery, and yet it still leaves an impact just as strong as any of their more melodramatic numbers. A great mind of modern music has rebooted.
75. The New Pornographers – Champions of Red Wine
Less than a year after dropping an exceptional solo LP, Neko Case was at it again; this time with the Canadian collective she made her name with all those years ago. Years have passed since the last Pornos offering, and yet it immediately falls back into place; albeit with slightly different surroundings. An earth-orbiting synthesizer leads the fray; which weaves in and out of a washed-out acoustic guitar, a sturdy kick-kick-snare backbeat and some truly beautiful vocal interplay between Case and A.C. Newman over a wordless Irish-folk-flavoured refrain. No time for losers – The New Pornographers are still the champions.
74. Modern Baseball – Two Good Things
Detached, disillusioned, dissatisfied, dissociative… this, people, is how youth of today are feeling. Modern Baseball did a better job than most (if not all) of reflecting this on You’re Gonna Miss It All, providing a song that’s both endlessly quotable (“Mathematically, that can’t be more than one end of a candle/Bottom of the night, can’t find my socks”) and meticulously crafted. As one of the more subdued moments of the album, it recalls The Weakerthans in structure, while also alluding to doo-wop (see the “da-da-da” rounds following the first verse) and late-2000s pop-punk. Here they are now – entertain them.
73. Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties – Divorce and the American South
Last year, Dan Campbell was asking himself “Did I fuck up?” on The Wonder Years’ “Passing Through a Screen Door.” Here, he flat-out confesses “I’m a fuck-up.” Well, sort of: He’s saying it as Aaron West, the titular character of his solo project. West pleads with his estranged wife on an answering machine, revealing more of his inner turmoil than he’d care to do in person. Little else touches Campbell’s solo performance, but they’re justified inclusions – pedal steel adds guiding lights to this sad country song; while a lone trumpet sounds out the finale with a trace of hope.
72. Hilltop Hoods – Cosby Sweater
Without getting into too much detail, it wasn’t a great year for Bill Cosby. His choice of clothing from the 80s, however, was doing just fine. Alluding to a famous photo of Biggie Smalls wearing the titular jumper, the Hoods returned to the limelight with one of their most fun singles yet from a thoroughly-consistent new album (a rarity if said album is your seventh). If the rollicking beat wasn’t enough, the energy and tongue-in-cheek cultural references (Oprah, Pat Benatar, chess legend Bobby Fischer) from MCs Suffa and Pressure ensured that it went over the line. And it’s all good.
71. Taylor Swift – Shake It Off
70. Death From Above 1979 – White is Red
A teenage romance ending in tragedy is as old as the hills – and even they’re sick of hearing “Last Kiss” over and over. It’s an intriguing concept, though, when it comes from a band normally inclined to skip the foreplay – their last album was called You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine, for shit’s sake. “White is Red” recalls love turned sour on a late-night runaway drive going anywhere. It’s sprinkled with clear influence of heartland-rock storytelling, yet delivered in a manner best paralleled with the band’s “Black History Month.” A colourful song that also revels in its darkness.
69. Future Islands – Doves
Releasing the doves has always been a grandiose gesture going well over the borderline of the flat-out ridiculous. This kind of theatricality is brought to mind by the title alone of this cut from Future Islands’ fourth studio album, so imagine what happens when it actually kicks in with its arena-sized snare flams and John Oates synth-chimes. It’s yet another example of the band potentially coming off as too out-there, too cheesy, too goofy… and then just nailing it entirely. A pop smash best served with that slithery dance move Samuel T. Herring does that recalls SNL‘s “sloppy swish” sketch.
68. Royal Blood – Little Monster
The backlash for rock’s next big thing arrived just as quickly as the cover stories and Dave Grohl soundbites proclaiming them to be saviours of the genre. Wherever you ended up on the spectrum, it was hard to ignore a track like “Little Monster” – if for no other reason that it was a loud motherfuckin’ song. A hybrid of QOTSA at their most stoner-metal meeting Muse at their ballsiest, the track simultaneously kicks up dust and kicks out the jams. “You say you got nothing/So come out and get some,” offers bassist/vocalist Mike Kerr. Don’t mind if we do.
67. Slipknot – Custer
Dun-dun-da, dun-dun-da, dun-dun-da-da-da. It might look like a slap-dash use of onomatopoeia, but it served as a dog whistle to metal fans returning to the world of Iowa’s premier nu-metal survivors. Genre politics aside, the fact that the band is still standing at all after all they have been through is a miracle unto itself. To deliver a song like this, however – an all-guns-blazing sensory assault that makes a song like “People = Shit” sound like Jack Johnson – surely cements them as a band that have paid their dues in full and one that deserves far more credit.
66. Collarbones – Turning
It’s always important to note the creativity in each single from Collarbones: What can initially seem like something that’s going to collapse into itself steadily and surely turns itself into a pop-and-locking wonderland. It’s as if they’ve rearranged puzzle pieces where they were clearly not originally intended to go and created a different picture entirely. In this instance, it’s a choppy, jolting slice of electro-pop that’s as much rnb come-ons as it is Macbook-hunched techno. “You make me feel like someone new,” sings out Marcus Whale – and it’s enough to get you excited for who they may be next.
65. Jenny Lewis – Just One of the Guys
We’re past the casual sex and the pained relationships of Jenny Lewis’ days in Rilo Kiley. As she approaches 40, she finds herself considering her own position in relation to her friends, her public perception and the supposed ticking clock following her around. Of course, we all know that Lewis is far more than “just another lady without a baby,” as she puts it; but it’s hearing her come to that conclusion on her own accord that makes this dreamy pop number all the more worthwhile. Now, about that tour with Kristen Stewart and Anne Hathaway as her backing band…
64. Weezer – Back to the Shack
The first words out of Rivers Cuomo’s mouth on Weezer’s first single in four years are “Sorry, guys.” No shit. Who’d have thought the man responsible for Make Believe and Raditude would be rushing to make amends with the die-hards? Perhaps it was their extensive touring of The Blue Album that made him reconsider what makes a great Weezer song, but the mojo is very much swinging in this two-chord rocker. “Maybe I should play the lead guitar,” he considers, “and Pat should play the drums.” They do just that, and we’re rocking out like it’s ’94 all over again.
63. Oslow – Cliffy
Cliff Young – aka Cliffy – was an Australian power-walker who won a marathon with a simple but clearly-effective shuffling method. Whether this was an influence on the third single from Oslow’s exceptional second EP is anyone’s guess, but a) It’s fun to speculate; and b) It’s reflected in the band’s focus on the groove and the spaces that go between each note as opposed to filling every gap. Oslow are clearly winning the race when it comes to the field of forward-thinking indie-rock emerging from Australia, so you’d best catch up – at your own pace, of course.
62. TV on the Radio – Careful You
One of the more understated romantics in alternative music singing in French? That’s how you do it. TV on the Radio have rarely shied away from romance in the past, ranging from the yearning (“Will Do”) to the R-rated (“Wear You Out”). It’s a little more subdued here, with Tunde Adebimpe sending his heart-on-sleeve lyricism into the ether with cooing keys, buzzing bass and some truly old-school drum machine loops. This is how TV on the Radio enters their forties – not with a whimper, nor with a bang, but with a kiss. Stop the world and melt with them.
61. La Dispute – For Mayor in Splitsville
Each room in the house that was conceptually centred around the band’s third album – titled, er, Rooms of the House – allowed vocalist Jordan Dreyer to explore memories, lost lives and a seemingly-forgotten past that’s slowly pieced together. At this point, he’s come across a particularly-ruined space, triggering memories of his childhood, as well as both the proverbial and literal tonne of bricks that came crashing down in the demise of his adult life. It’s clear that when he screams “I guess, in the end, we just move furniture around,” he’s not just talking a couch and a chair.
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David James Young 