Top 10 CDs of 2009

So finally, after only a month of procrastination, I've reviewed all the albums I listened to in 2009 and can present to you my annual list of favorites.

10. Dan Auerbach, Keep it Hid: Some solid old-school rock from Ohio.

9. Captain Bogg & Salty, Emphatical Piratical: Aargh! Move up a few spots if you have kids. Move up a few more spots if your kids are into pirates.

8. The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Communion: If they put the best half of this on a single disc, it would have gotten an A.

7. Neko Case, Middle Cyclone: Still cryptic, still alluring, still a killer voice.

6. Týr, By the Light of the Northern Star: A fun mix of history, Norse legend, and hard rock.

5. White Rabbits, It's Frightening: Drum roll, please!

4. Kris Delmhorst, Shotgun Singer: A really artistic record that kept growing on me.

3. Rupa & The April Fishes, Este Mundo: Wildly eclectic, globally conscious, and fun.

2. Boot, Soot: The best Nordic CD since 2000.

1. Warsaw Village Band, Infinity: Superior musicianship combined with brazen experimentation.

I've discovered, among other things, that I really need to rework my grading system, especially where the B+ albums are concerned -- a few of them made the list, and a few might not have even deserved a B. Oh well, back to the drawing board in 2010...

Warsaw Village Band, Infinity (Barbes Records, 2009)

We now return to our regularly scheduled assortment of obscure music. With their albums People's Spring (2001) and Uprooting (2004), the Warsaw Village Band had already established themselves as one of the best international folk acts of the decade. The sextet of Maja Kleszcz (vocals and cello), Magdalena Sobczak-Kotnarowska (vocals and dulcimer), Sylwia Swiatkowska (vocals and fiddles), Wojtek Krzak (violin and nyckelharpa), Piotr Glinski (drums and percussion), and Maciej Szajkowski (frame drums) may root their sound in the fiddling traditions of their homeland, but there is quite a bit more to the music they make than that. They have always had an aggressive, punkish edge, for one thing. Plus, much like the Finnish band Värttinä, they incorporate folk influences from across Europe and the globe, especially styles that suit their three-part female vocal harmonies well. It's not always easy to tell which aspects of their sound are in fact Polish in origin. But the band wholeheartedly embrace the present as well, and are particularly fond of black American music in its many forms. On their brand new album Infinity, you can hear traces of hip-hop, R&B, soul, and the blues mixed in with Polish and European folk fiddle music. Happily, Warsaw Village Band have the musical skill it takes to make the combination sound perfectly natural.

The story of Infinity begins with the birth of Wojtek and Maja's first child. In the liner notes for the album, Wojtek describes the album's concept as "the need to take a dip in tradition, derive from it and create contemporary and modern compositions -- to inspire other generations." Wojtek and Maja composed most of the music on Infinity, with the lyrics continuing to come from from mostly traditional sources as they had on the previous albums. It appears as though the fiddler and the cellist have assumed a much greater degree of control of the band's musical direction than they had in the past, but the quality of the music is certainly not adversely affected by it. If anything, the band sounds better than ever.

Infinity opens much like Uprooting did, with a potent song in a jig rhythm called "Wise Kid Song." From there, the band rattles off one strong track after another. The ominous minor key ballad called "1.5 h" features viola and Eastern-inspired vocals from Tomasz Kukurba, a member of a prominent Polish klezmer band. The unusual "Skip Funk" which mixes the scratching of a DJ with plucked string instruments and a very jazzy vocal from Maja. "Is Anybody in There?" is the albums strongest track and an instant classic, setting a traditional Polish work song with energetic group vocals to the beat of African-style drumming. "Heartbeat" is an intriguing duet between Maja and a Polish R&B singer named Natalia Przybysz, with whom Maja went to music school. Maja plays her cello like an upright bass while Wojtek plucks his fiddle like a mandolin, but the soulful vocals and a chord progression worthy of Stevie Wonder make this song really make this song special. The ironically titled instrumental "Polska fran Polska" is a tribute to the embrace of the polska, originally a Polish style of tune and dance, by the folk musicians of Sweden. The band recaptures the frenzy of some of their earlier instrumentals with "Polka Story." "I've Met the Girl" mixes string harmonics with insistent percussion and some the group's best vocal work.

Simply put, Infinity is a carnival of delights, providing listeners with an eclectic and exceptionally good combination of the familiar and the unusual. Warsaw Village Band are not afraid to take chances, and right now they have both the energy and the superior musicianship to pull off anything they try. They are a great band that's on a roll. While I'd strongly recommend all three albums of theirs that I have, Infinity is the best of the three, and better than any album I've yet reviewed for this blog.

Overall grade: A+

reviewed by Scott

A promotional clip for Infinity. Yes some subtitles would be nice, but it does give a good glimpse into the workings of the band.

Warsaw Village Band, Uprooting (Jaro, 2004)

The Warsaw Village Band burst onto the world music scene when their album People's Spring was released internationally in early 2004. This young Polish group set out to combine a deep respect for the fiddle traditions of their homeland with a punk rock ethos, and produced some of the most militantly aggressive folk music ever recorded. Even the disc couldn't match the ferocity of their live performances, though. The young Polish community in New York City embraced the Warsaw Village Band quickly, and the local shows I've seen them at featured large numbers of manic fans screaming as loudly for them as they would for any rock band. People's Spring was already several years old by the time it was released in America, and a new album Uprooting very quickly followed it into the international section in American music stores in late 2004.

In between Uprooting and People's Spring, original members Maja Kleszcz (cello, vocals), Sylwia Swaitkowska (violin, traditional Polish fiddle, vocals), Wojtek Krzak (fiddle), Piotr Glinski (baraban drum), and Maciej Szajjowski (percussion) were joined by Magdalena Sobczak (dulcimer, vocals). One of the few relative weaknesses of People's Spring was the lack of originality in the vocal arrangements; the women always sang together and in unison. For Uprooting the band gave the vocals a much stronger emphasis. While roughly half the tracks on People's Spring were instrumentals, only "Polka From Sieradz Region" on the new album features no vocals. In addition, the three women do quite a bit of nice harmonizing, and Kleszcz and Sobczak also turn in some fine lead vocal performances.

The album opens with the first of four quick snippets of field recordings from the elder generation of Polish folk performers. The band members are very quick to acknowledge their sources and mentors, and dedicate the album to two of them. In addition to the changes in the vocals, the band take their instrumental sound in some very interesting directions this time around. The rhythm of the work song "Matthew" is described as being "Mazovia calypso." "Grey Horse," another traditional song from Mazovia, is given an unmistakably bluesy feel, further boosted by some sexy lead vocals from Kleszcz. "When Johnny Went To Fight In The War," the disc's only original composition (written by Krzak), mixes in jazz and hip hop. The pizzicato fiddling that provides the background for the closing sound "Fishie" could have as easily been inspired by the song "Reptile" by the Australian rock band The Church as by anything traditional. Two songs, "Woman In Hell" and "Let's Play, Musicians," employ the services of the Lipsk Women's Choir, augmenting the band's own vocals with the strength of numbers. Sometimes the experimentation gets the band into trouble, though. The opening song "In The Forest" is held back by an intrusive and uninspired used of sampling and electronic sound effects. The band thankfully avoids the gadgetry for most of the rest of the disc, allowing their singing and phenomenal playing to speak for themselves.

The aforementioned songs have their moments, and would make for a pretty good album on their own. For all the experimentation, though, Uprooting peaks where the Warsaw Village Band follows the same basic formula that made People's Spring a strong album and makes their live shows so exciting. When the driving percussive interplay meets Kleszcz's deep, scraping power chords on cello, with the two fiddlers hammering out melody and counter-melody and the dulcimer providing just the right amount of ambience, the very earth moves with them. On this album, "The Owl" and "I Slayed The Rye" showcase the Warsaw Village Band at their relentless, uncompromising best, and are required listening for anybody who wants to hear the state of the art in folk fiddle music.

Just like its predecessor, Uprooting shows the Warsaw Village Band to be full of creative ideas, remaining rooted in the traditions of their native Poland but always looking forward for ways to take their music to the next level. The music has several tantalizing moments of brilliance that left me begging for more. I wouldn't necessarily call Uprooting and People's Spring classic or landmark albums in the genre-defining sense, but the Warsaw Village Band gives every indication of being capable of creating such a record. Stay tuned.

Overall grade: A-

Reprinted with permission from The Green Man Review
Copyright 2006 The Green Man Review

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