Life After Brent for Menomena?

The recent news of Brent Knopf's departure from Portland, Oregon trio Menomena really knocked me for six. It's not that the news was so surprising - last year's Mines was a troubled birth to say the least, with the three members reportedly at each others throats - it's just that Menomena seemed like one of those bands that would either exist as their original trio or not at all. Whilst the remaining two members Danny Seim and Justin Harris have pledged to carry on (and seem pretty confident in their ability to do so, judging by this article), it's hard to imagine Menomena minus Knopf. As a trio, each member formed an integral part of the band; all three members contributed to the songwriting, shared singing duties across each record and played an array of instruments both live and on record. One only needs to look at Knopf's fine work with side-project Ramona Falls to see just how much he brought to Menomena.

Menomena easily rank amongst my favourite bands to emerge in the last 5-10 years. They're certainly one of the most underrated, one of those bands that so frequently garner praise yet are conspicuous only by their absence come the end-of-year lists. They seemed to arrive fully-formed too, with 2003's I Am The Fun Blame Monster (a clever anagram of The First Menomena Album), an album which showcased the band's way with meticulous arrangements and crystal-clear production which, as with all subsequent releases, was put together with "Deeler", a computer program written by Knopf no less. That album also showed off Menomena's creative flair with album packaging, containing a flickbook which decoded the anagram and showed the three guys playing their instruments; 2007's Friend & Foe featured multiple album covers comprising a plethora of comic beasties, cut so that rotating the underlying CD changed the image, giving near endless possibilities. They're not averse from taking a risk too; as early as album #2, they were composing  20-minute instrumental suites made to accompany a performance by a local dance troupe. But most importantly Menomena were making great music, music entirely unique to them.

Good luck to Danny and Justin; let's not forget they're extremely talented guys and I'm sure they can still do  the Menomena name justice. As for Brent, I'm sure he'll be just fine.

Albums of 2010: 20-16

Here we go....

20. Meursault - All Creatures Will Make Merry

The Edinburgh folktronica band's second full-length was fuzzy yet beautifully crafted. The album was a blanket of lo-fi mist, cut through by band linchpin Neil Pennycook's anguished bleating, delivering the usual miserabilist kitchen-sink drama ("I got drunk on New Years Day/ I mixed my drinks and I lost my way") we've come to expect from Scottish indie bands since day zero. But few could argue that the propulsive shifts of pace and the orchestration, by turns forlorn and optimisitc, don't touch a nerve, and at its most bare, like on Sleet,  All Creatures is nothing short of devestating.

19. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?

Sounding like a 2010 version of Tangerine Dream, the serene Does It Look Like I'm Here? was one of the year's most immersive headphones albums. Whilst a tad overlong, the rippling electronic waves of Does It Look Like I'm Here? can't help but sooth as they wash over you. Guitars are applied sparingly but effectively, adding just enough variety, as well as providing the cross-over appeal to fans of ambient electronic, drone, post-rock and retro computer games alike. Should there ever be another Ecco the Dolphin game, this would surely be its perfect soundtrack.

18. Menomena - Mines

The recording of Mines was reportedly a turbulent period for the Portland, Oregon trio, and to some extent that comes through on the record. Whilst 2007's Friend & Foe was letting off fireworks at every available opportunity, Mines just broods and simmers; just compare their respective openers Muscle'n'Flo and Queen Black Acid if you need proof. Yet with its intricate and nuanced arrangements (which, thanks to their own programming language Deeler somehow depicts every minute detail), and the contrasting vocal contributions of each member, this was unmistakenably a Menonema album, and Mines was the sound of a band forging their distinctive sound into new and darker territory.

17. The Walkmen - Lisbon

If Bows and Arrows was the staggering out of the bar emotional and bleary-eyed, and You & Me was getting home and reminiscing in front of the fire, then Lisbon was the journey home on a starlit night. Lisbon didn't stray too far from the Walkmen's well-beaten track, but he likes of Angela Surf City and Woe Is Me demonstrated that few other bands can kick up so much dust in the process. It was the sound of a band full of confidence and completely comfortable in their own shoes; "well they say you can't please everyone / but I'm stuck on a winning streak" coos Hamilton Leithauser on  While I Shovel The Snow, and he's half-right at least.

16. Beach House - Teen Dream

In hindsight, Teen Dream was make-or-break for Beach House; Devotion was a fine sophomore effort, but did little to dispel the notion that this was a band destined to make the same (admittedly lovely) record over and over again. Yet in spite of that non-descript album cover, by the time the opening salvo of Zebra, Silver Soul and Norway - far and away the most dynamic and assertive songs they've ever written - are over, it's remarkable just how deftly Beach House had leapt out from the pigeonhole many (myself included) had put them in. The rest of Teen Dream was a more relaxed, loungey affair, but no matter, as Beach House had made their point; this is a band with the legs to carry them for a good while yet.

The Ones That Got Away