SONGS OF THE YEAR: "Spitting Blood" by WU LYF

Our Top 21 Albums issue comes out Dec. 22, but that doesn't come close to telling you what 2011 sounded like. To help find the devil in the details, we've asked City Paper's critics, friends and family to name some of their favorite songs - be they secret gems on terrible albums, sleeper tracks you missed, huge pop songs that need defending, or just plain good songs everybody already knows and loves. (Ignore the video, this is about the audio.)

0 comments

SONGS OF THE YEAR: “Spitting Blood” by WU LYF

POSTED: Friday, December 16, 2011, 4:17 PM

Filed Under: Music Song

Our Top 21 Albums issue comes out Dec. 22, but that doesn’t come close to telling you what 2011 sounded like. To help find the devil in the details, we’ve asked City Paper’s critics, friends and family to name some of their favorite songs — be they secret gems on terrible albums, sleeper tracks you missed, huge pop songs that need defending, or just plain good songs everybody already knows and loves. (Ignore the video, this is about the audio.)

Manchester dudes WU LYF’s album Go Tell Fire to the Mountain was one of my favorite albums of the year, but it was “Spitting Blood” that caught my attention in the first place. It’s a raspy, vulnerable, howl of a man’s discomfort with human excess and a longing for something of a post intellectual innocence. Having taken a page from Arcade Fire’s book in recording the album in an abandoned church, all the cymbal crashes and droplets of guitar ring out organically, giving a sense of thematic logic with the lyrics. What’s great about this song, however, is outside of logic. It’s a pure realization of catharsis drawn together in a disarming balance of grit and delicacy.

Posted by Sean Kearney @ 4:17 PM Permalink | Post a comment

0 comments

Comments (0)

Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
What we're trying to do this weekend
Coming soon to Philly: Two cockamamie movie promotion schemes
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
ICE CUBE: In Memoriam: Joe Tartaglia
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
PHILLY LOVE NOTES: An ode to Spruce Street
CONCERT REVIEW & PHOTOS: James Blake @ TLA 5/11
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: The Archbishop meets the Geator, the Mayor goes suit shopping, Le Bec Fin fin.

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January

Past Archives: