Best Albums of 2009: #23, HEALTH's Get Color

Rank: #23

Album: Get Color

Artist: HEALTH

Label: Lovepump United

There's something emphatically destructive about HEALTH's Get Color. Maybe it's the opening electronic repetition on "Die Slow" that bites so furiously at your ears. Or perhaps it's the insanity of the track's video that provides such a vividly chaotic portrait. Either way, HEALTH's second studio album is the perfect marriage of electronic and noise rock-- a raucous, and untamed adventure to the apparently violent underbelly of today's music scene.

Though a loud and unhinged record as a whole, Get Color is probably portrayed best by the aforementioned "Die Slow." Its slick pop beat, woven between the intermittent noise of the rave going on around you sums up the album's bipolar, thrashing aesthetic. However, any of Get Color's other offerings could provide examples of this just as well. "Before Tigers" starts off as an ambient dream, save the continuous, hard-hitting riffs that break up any silence into some sort of nightmare. On the other hand, "Severin" doesn't play games, but rather just sprints through over four minutes of wildly off-kilter, panic-inducing guitar and electronic noise. For those who enjoy louder, more abrasive sounds, Get Color may be one of your favorite records of the year.

Best Track: "Die Slow" (via Pitchfork)

[Previously on Animal Noises: Best Albums of 2009: #24, Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix]

Best Songs of 2009: #11-20

It's the homestretch of our countdown of the 50 best songs of 2009. Surely you'll be able to find a favorite or two of yours amongst the collection of tracks we've assembled. If not, sorry to hear it, but give the following a good listen.

20. "Die Slow" -- HEALTH (stream via Pitchfork)

19. "Vacationing People" -- Foreign Born (via Pitchfork)

18. "The Girl and the Robot" -- Röyksopp

17. "Wilco (The Song)" -- Wilco

16. "Repeaterbeater" -- Mew (via Pitchfork)

15. "What Would I Want? Sky" -- Animal Collective

14. "Stillness Is the Move" -- Dirty Projectors (via Pitchfork)

13. "Life In Marvelous Times" -- Mos Def

12. "While You Wait For the Others" -- Grizzly Bear

11. "Pretty Girls (Feat. Gucci Mane)" -- Wale

[Previously on Animal Noises: Best Songs of 2009: #21-30]

Music Video Monday: "Die Slow"

Track: Die Slow

Artist: HEALTH

Album: Get Color

Year: 2009

I'll preface this post with the following disclaimer: Those who have epilepsy should NOT view the video below. There's nothing offensive towards the condition in the video, but it's a lot of strobe lights and flashing images and things that could possibly trigger a seizure.

For those who haven't seen yet, HEALTH's new video for single "Die Slow" is a twisted rave, full of hipster mosh pits, odd images and finally, at the end, a (slightly) gruesome death for all of the participants. It's not so much fascinating as it is intriguing, and maybe disturbing. From the onset, the strange girls with box haircuts seem a bit unnerving, yet are completely harmless until one of them "kills" one of the other ones. This triggers a series of events amongst our hip moshers, that first involves them seemingly enjoying death, then suddenly, abruptly, they're out of the picture. Strange, indeed.

If you've failed to pick up a copy of HEALTH's Get Color, which came out last Tuesday, I'd highly recommend doing so ASAP. The album is electro-pop insanity, sure to please fans of Crystal Castles, or anyone who enjoys something a bit edgier out of their electronic jams.

[Previously on Animal Noises: New HEALTH, "We Are Water"]

New HEALTH, "We Are Water"

Stereogum posted this aptly-named track, off of HEALTH's upcoming-- Get Color-- so I figured it was worth speaking about on this sunny Friday morning. Spacious, noisy and seemingly floating, "We Are Water" is the type of song you could just listen to over and over, and still feel as if you're just suspended in some sort of meditative state. It's not so much feeling like you're underwater, as feeling like you ARE water-- hence the name. Space may also be a good comparison. Who knows. Either way, check out the track over at Stereogum. Get Color comes out September 8th via Lovepump United.