First, the Not Safe For Work/School/In front of blushers new video for Parenthetical Girls' "The Pornographer":

And now my lengthy conversation with P. Girls' vocalist/songwriter/instrumentalist Zac Pennington, conducted a couple of weeks ago after the third EP of their spleen-kicking, air-ceasing, head-dizzying Privilege releases came out. A gorgeous combination of synth rock and sin city, noise pop and quasi-classical, when stacked together the EPs form arguably my favorite release of the past few months. And there are still two more releases in the series to go. Hence, the heights and depths Zac and I soar and plunge to below:

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{Shabazz Palaces photo from the Three Imaginary Girls Flickr Pool by Jason Tang}

Through sheer quirk of fate and possibly my own fatally quirky tastes, the top spots for my four favorite records of the year were given to two separate EPs by two different bands. I'm going to start my Top 20 of 2011 list with a cheat; combining two albums for placement at #1 and #2. Just to obnoxiously make you utterly vigilant of it: the first two spots are taken up by two separate releases, but they're EPs that if combined with each other, tie with/become one release.

Oh, and I'm keeping all hype to 20 words to mirror the Top 20 list. And then I cheat again by having the first two releases described in 40 words, a combination of two 20 word reviews. (No, I haven't been studying Kabbalah with the Wu-Tang Clan.) Also: Mostly in order, but ask me again tomorrow. (The Damien Jurado could be anywhere on this list, for example.) And regional preference takes precedence (call that "fanzine love").

1. Shabazz Palaces, Shabazz Palaces & Of Light EPs
Cracked, uncanny hip-hop collages of unsettling mind-movies, Clockers meets Company Flow. "Juxtapositions of the digital and analog, hard drum-machine beats set against softer bongos or the resonant sweetness of an mbira." -- Jon Caramanica, The New York Times

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WOAH Babes! Like pop? PDX Pop Now! has put together a pretty great festival to celebrate their seventh year of supporting the Portland music scene. The dates are July 30th through August 1st, at Rotture. Think it's worth the trip?

Aan / AgesAndAges / AndAndAnd / Asss / Atriarch / AU / Autistic Youth / Ben Darwish / Billygoat / Blue Cranes / Blue Horns / Brainstorm / Cloudy October / Defect Defect / Da’Rel Junior / Eternal Tapestry / Fear No Music / Get Hustle / Grey Anne / Guantanamo Baywatch/ Hockey / Hosannas / I Can Lick Any Son of A Bitch In The House / Jackie-O Motherfucker/ Joey Casio / Joggers / Krebsic Orkestar / Kung Pao Chickens / Kusikia / Lewi Longmire / Luck One / Michael The Blind / Operative / Parenthetical Girls / Please Step Out of The Vehicle /Reporter / Rollerball / Shoeshine Blue / Skeletron / Soup Purse / SubArachnoid Space / Tiny Knives / Tu Fawning / The Tumblers / Typhoon / Wampire / Why I Must Be Careful / Ylang Ylang

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During the holidays, the Parenthetical Girls released a feisty vinyl 45 The Christmas Creep with two songs, a Sparks cover (the viciously witty "Thank God It's Not Christmas") and their own awesome anthem, "Flowers For Albion." (Consider it a double A side.) This was preceded by a generous EP, a strange melange of spoken word and singalong art song dedicated and based on the lyrics of the acerbic, angsty Jewish Glasgow word-lover/performer Ivor Cutler.

I was pretty satisfied by these flirting releases, being a transfixed fan of the band's die young stay pretty passion plays and morbid preoccupations with the language of the body, performed more melodically bracing and compositionally daring since their crucial album Entanglements (2008).

They might dread such a modern comparison, but think of the Parenthetical Girls as the David Foster Wallace of indie rock; a peculiar, acquired taste that a fan would insist should be universal, but probably will be due to their boldness in music and marketing. Sometimes their arcane musical footnotes bring more pleasure than whole albums by more accessible "craftsmen," and even when things get wordy and mystical the wild sweep of emotion brings the listener back.

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{press photo}

Reading press releases at work has it's downfall. If you read something really awesome, it's hard to not react too much or look too excited. Case in point when I found out about Maintenant, the premier release by (the mostly Canadian) Gigi - a "supergroup" of sorts, with songs written in the classic 60's Brill Building/Phil Spector style by Vancouver's Nick Krgvich (P:ano, No Kids) and vocals by Mirah, Zac Pennington of Parenthetical Girls, Rose Melberg, Karl Blau, and more. I am a huge sucker for 60's pop. Start that reverb soaked thump-thump-thump-clap beat with some crooning lovelorn vocals, and chances are, I'll be won over. These two early release songs are no exception. "No My Heart Will Go On" features a chorus of ladies, and "Strolling Past the Old Graveyard" features an extra melancholic Karl Blau at the helm. File this under release I'm ready to pee my pants over in 2010.

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There are a lot of fantastic books, albums, DVDs, and other things that any music fan would love to get this year, but may not know that they would love them yet. The pop culture pie hole is insatiable, and with the battered economy not everything I loved got the proper hype. This is Part One for me, the recorded sound segment.

When it comes time to buy stuff for friends (Christmas Eve, at Easy Street, Sonic Boom, or in my next installment, the Fantagraphics Store), you might see bundles of the below spilling out of my weary arms (if I haven't mail ordered extras already).

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Zac Pennington of the Parenthetical Girls recently sent downloads of his band's absolutely delightful "mini-LP" adapting Scottish poet Ivor Cutler's imagery to their idyllic blend of artful electro-pop. I fell madly in love with the eight song cycle, and begged Pennington to answer some questions as he takes in the Old World on the eve of the Parenthetical Girls' holiday seven inch announcement and the limited availability of The Scottish Play

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Portland's Parenthetical Girls are the masters of the sublime, crafting dreamlike fairy tale states out of jagged melodies and fragile poems. To anyone familiar with them, it's no surprise that they've chosen to release the most wonderfully contrary holiday songs to mark the season... and, oh dear, are we a sucker for festive limited edition vinyl.

From the P-girls website:

Happy Holidays--

Let it be known that no one was more disappointed with last year’s conspicuous absence of a Parenthetical Girls Christmas release than Parenthetical Girls themselves—if only because we were alone in noticing. Allow us to quietly atone with this year’s entry in the Parenthetical Girls Christmas Archives: The Christmas Creep single. Our Double-A-Side Christmas Gift To You:

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Parenthetical Girls started out as a collaboration between Zac Pennington and Jeremy Cooper in 2002, then known as Swastika Girls, a name lifted from one of their influences, Brian Eno’s collaboration with Robert Fripp on No Pussyfooting. This album is an experimental one for Brian Eno and reflects the manipulations of pop and the lo-fi recording techniques used by Pennington and Cooper on their first eight track recordings. After dismissing the fruits of their labors for a while, Pennington unearthed the tape and handed it off to Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu and Jherek Bischoff of the Dead Science.

Thus, Parenthetical Girls came to be with the release of (((GRRRLS))) featuring mixes of the same seven songs by Stewart on one side and Bischoff on the other. The name change came with a change in lineup that has finally landed Parenthetical Girls with permanent members Pennington, Matt Carlson, Rachel Jensen, and Eddy Crichton on the Sky Church stage, this Sunday at 3:30 during Bumbershoot. Don’t miss their lovely and lilting songs that feature glockenspiel, synthesizer and guitar in a winning combination of insular sadness and uplifting sweetness making your insides as warbley as Pennington’s vocals.

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Seattle's avant-pop/punk-jazz innovator Jherek Bischoff knows how to throw a 30th birthday paty for himself -- and put on a great big show for us! 

Bischoff, of The Dead Science, Parenthetical Girls, Ribbons, 30th Birthday Concert is taking place at Seattle's Town Hall on Friday, September 11th. The show will feature a 40-piece orchestra, playing 13 compositions. 

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