Last year was an odd one for music. Politics reared its ugly head during an election year, and musicians, who we all know are the real experts on foreign policy, seemed to come out of the woodwork to denounce “the war,” falling back on rehearsed soundbites and incoherent vitriol. The whole thing was made all the more disappointing by the fact that there simply wasn’t anything very good coming out from the major labels. U2 did an okay record with a ponderous title, but it traded mostly on nostalgia, and it appears that R.E.M. is just a hollow shell of its former self without Bill Berry.
As usual, there was some truly great work done this year, but it flew under the commercial radar. Thankfully, Emo appears to be dead, and we’ve finally seen the end of “Post-Rock” as the new Prog. Acts like Tortoise treaded water, while others redefined themselves and came out all the better for it. Continued...