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right, I’m going to be that guy. I hate to do it, but I’ve got to.
I’ve loved Phoenix for a handful of years now. Before this recent
mainstream explosion they’ve enjoyed. If you don’t believe me, refer
back to my “Best of” list of 2006. Ok, I don’t expect you to do that,
but Phoenix was #1 with their last release, It’s Never Been Like
That. That album was also beyond incredible, just like Wolfgang
Amadeus Phoenix is (which also now holds the funniest album
title).
They have just started to make it big now, going from the band too few
people knew of, to being the latest club and indie sensation. Shit,
their songs are now part of the Cadillac commercial campaign. Still,
this is the one and only album of the year EVERY time I put it on and
someone was listening to it with me, they would respond... “Who is
this? This is really good.”
It really is that good. I’ve never ever seen a reaction so universal
to an artist like that before. They kick off the album with an ode to
the 80’s with “Liztomania”. They’ve got songs to rival Daft Punk.
“1901” is easily the best pop song of the year. It’s also the
catchiest song of the year. It’s so effortlessly creative and
danceable. Synths that explode and build like you’re on ten tons of
ecstasy at a rave or some shit. They’ve got a post-rock shoe-gaze
anthem that blends into one of (my favorite) the most beautiful songs
of the year (Love Like a Sunset Part I and II.) “Love Like a Sunset”
starts small and builds instrument by instrument through a driving
dance beat into a post-rock like epic build. Then it all disappears
after seven minutes. Then it comes back in so beautifully finally with
vocals as well. If you were to visualize it, it’s literally like
taking the blanket off the night and waking up to the greatest morning
ever. It’s tough to do that musically but Phoenix nailed it. You gotta
hear it to believe it though.
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix has got songs that rock, and songs
that simply make you tap your foot or bob your head. Most of all, they
are songs that are easy to like. Half the time I can’t tell if the
instrument is the cleanest guitar I’ve ever heard or the cleanest
synth I’ve ever heard. Either way, its a totally unique sound that
only Phoenix owns and they’ve been perfecting it these past few years.
It’s pristine. Everything is so carefully and perfectly constructed it
makes me feel like I’m going to melt every time I listen. It’s
perfect. It’s the knowledge that they could throw the whole paint
bucket at you but they just keep teasing you with light touches of
genius over and over again.
Phoenix have finally positioned themselves to be the “next big thing.”
Each song is unique, it’s own feel, it’s own perfect character. Ten
songs of pure bliss. While my #1 album of this year happens to be ten
songs pure devastation, Phoenix is the perfect counteraction to that
with nothing other than happy musical bliss. This was the first great
album I heard this year and I knew it would stay at the top of my list
all year and it did. There is no other album I could so highly
recommend as this one, to anyone. Buy it if you haven’t already!
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January 4th, 2010
